It’s been a long day, thanks to another stupid headache and two grumpy boys, so I present you with a picture of Shadow, because everyone knows that looking at cat pictures makes you feel happy.
Shadow is a very silly, upside-down sort of kitty. He’s also very soft and would make an excellent lap cat, if only Seymour weren’t so allergic. Oh, well – at least now we can have cats, as opposed to before when we lived in town.
(c) 2014. All rights reserved.
Today marks the first day of the new school year, and it’s already been a bit wild.
Between cleaning up after some naughty kitties, tracking down those last few supplies, and chasing little brothers around, it’s been rather hectic. But it’s good to be back in a routine, too.
Here’s to another great year! 🙂
(c) 2014. All rights reserved.
Bubbles starts fifth grade next week – my how the time has flown!
He’s suiting up for football practice. This year he graduates to tackle football (instead of flag football). Before I know it, he’ll be all grown up and playing in high school.
Don’t forget to stop by Charnele’s blog and see what she’s posted, and have a great weekend!
(c) 2014. All rights reserved.
The story of my most prized possession is a difficult one to tell because there are many things I prize quite highly. I’ve never been able to choose a single thing I love more than all others.
As a kid, whenever someone asked what one thing would I grab if my house were burning and I was forced to flee, I always answered, “Puppy and Blankie.” (They’re exactly what they sound like – I know, I was so creative as a kid.)
Puppy was a gift from my dad and I’ve had him for longer than I can remember. We share a telepathic connection, and he has always been there to comfort me when I needed it. Despite his advanced age – 210 in dog years – he doesn’t look half bad. Oh, sure, his hat is missing, and he’s had a few surgeries over the years (he’s had several nose jobs, plus open heart surgery and a spinal fusion)*, but his heart is as big as ever. And even though he no longer goes everywhere with me…
Remember a while back when I reviewed Moms’ Night Out? I went to see it again, this time with my mother-in-law, who’d had a very stressful day and needed a good laugh. I’m so glad she went with me, because we don’t see each other as often as I’d like and we had a ton of fun. We definitely need to do things like this more often.
Anyway, as we watched the movie, I got to thinking (a dangerous pastime, I know) about why I related so much to Allyson. I mean, I’ve been there – I stayed home with Bubbles till he was two and now that I only work part-time, I’m home alone with Cricket and Thumper two or three days a week.
It’s hard! It’s so hard. Like Allyson, I wanted to be a mom. Of course, I also wanted to be a world-famous author, but let’s just take this one dream at a time. Her reasons for wanting to be a mom are never mentioned – it’s simply her dream, and she’s lucky enough to be living it.
Once again, a Writing 101 challenge. Today’s topic: My worst fear.
I’m sure I’ve written about this before, but my worst fear is that I’ll die before my kids are grown up. My memories of my mom are fragmented; sometimes I remember things that don’t seem possible, and other times I recall things with crystal clarity.
But mostly, I don’t remember. I don’t remember very much about my childhood before my mom died. I would really, really hate for my kids to say the same. I’ve always worried about it, which is why I stayed at home with Bubbles the first two years of his life.
Looking less tired already!
The challenge for Day Thirteen of Writing 101 is to write about something you’ve found, in contrast to Day Four’s challenge to write about a loss. For day four, I wrote about my loss of sleep. Today I think I’ll write about how I found it again.
It’s only just happened, see. Ever since my surgery in January, I’ve been having more trouble than normal sleeping – getting to sleep and then staying that way. I thought it was just because of the hot flashes, because they’ve been awful, and worse since I stopped taking hormone therapy in April. It wasn’t working as well as I thought it should, so I decided to try a different doctor.
The Writing 101’s Day 11 challenge is to write about where you lived when you were twelve. I’ve covered the age of twelve, and revisiting my childhood home, in other posts, but this one is different. As I began thinking about my old house, lots of things came back to me, and I’ve tried to capture a few of them here.
When I was twelve, I lived in a two-story red house on the corner of Pine Street and Main. The local Pioneer was across the street to the north, and we had a huge back yard. At least, I thought it was huge. Then again, I thought the house was huge, too. Trees filled the yard, and flower beds existed in various states of decay. They weren’t the only things in that state.
If I close my eyes, I can still see the white linoleum that was always dirty near the front door and the peeling wallpaper of the dining room. I can still see the sun glaring off the screen of our old RCA TV (’80s vintage, of course). I can still see the colorful patchwork of carpet hidden by all the crap that littered my room and the kitten posters on my seafoam green bedroom walls.
My mom hated that color – she wanted me to pick something a shade darker, but I loved it. It was better than the ugly shade of blue that matched my parents’ bedroom, and a heck of a lot better than the Pepto Bismol pink…
Today’s theme being close-ups, this is one of my favorites:
This is just outside my high school after Miss Tadpole’s spring concert. She was in kindergarten, Bubbles here was in preschool, and Seymour and I were three short months away from tying the knot. It was a happy time for me, and exciting. I think both emotions are captured in this picture.
Don’t forget to stop by Charnele’s blog to see what she has posted, and have a great weekend!
(c) 2014. All rights reserved.
The day four assignment for Writing 101 was to write about a loss. I’ve had a lot of loss in my life, from my parents and grandparents to my first marriage and more. Loss is part of life, though not necessarily the most fun part. And sometimes, what we gain more than makes up for what we’ve lost.
Take sleep, for instance. I have children, therefore I do not sleep. Or to be more precise, I no longer sleep as much as I would like.
I no longer have my evenings and weekends to myself, because I’m taking care of little people and shuttling slightly bigger little people to sports practices and piano lessons and birthday parties and all those other fun things that kids like to do.
I no longer have the luxury of privacy, because Cricket and Thumper believe me to be their servant, created solely to give them whatever they want five minutes ago. Apparently when I became a mother, I also became a clairvoyant genie. Who knew?
Despite the sleep deprivation and the loss of my privacy, I wouldn’t trade my kids for anything. I’ve gained so much by knowing them, watching them learn and grow and question, and I love them all so very, very much.
If there’s anything in life more precious than the love of a child, I have yet to discover it. And I’m not sure I want to.
(c) 2014. All rights reserved.
Suddenly they all died. The end. 