A Bus Driver Honked at Me While Giving Me the Evil Eye, or People Need to Stop Doing Irritating Things

So, maybe my sense of humor isn't completely gone.  When I read the prompt for today's Finish the Sentence Friday, I laughed.  Quite hard.

"What I really want to scream out loud is..."

The perfect prompt for a curmudgeon.

Today I shall dump on you the myriad ways people have irritated me this past week.

I really want to scream "READ THE FREAKIN' SIGN!" when I go to drop off my recycling and find this:

That sign there... It says, "NOTICE RECYCLABLES ONLY  NO TRASH NO DUMPING Violators will be prosecuted."

I say prosecute!  This church very kindly collects tons of recycling for those of us who don't have roadside service.  Each and every week, people leave things that are most certainly not recyclable.  These people take advantage of the church's kindness, and they are going to ruin it for everybody.

I also really want to scream, "I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING WRONG!" to the bus driver who honked at me and gave me the dagger eyes.  Well, I did yell it, but only my kids heard me.  Someone needs to tell her that if she wants me to stop for her to let kids off the bus (which I really want to do!  I am a rule follower!) she needs to give me time to do it.  The entire time I was on that street facing her, she sat there with no lights on.  A whole line of cars drove past her.  Just as I came up even to the front of the bus, she threw on the yellow lights and within a nanosecond threw on the red.  A 12-passenger van cannot stop on a dime, and a bus driver really should know that!  If she would have turned the yellow lights on sooner, I totally would have stopped.  I'm the one who should have been honking and giving dagger eyes.

Oh, and this one really burned me.  As Turken was doing his homework, I wanted to scream, "IF YOU ARE GOING TO WRITE STORY PROBLEMS FOR A KIDS'  MATH CURRICULUM FOR A LIVING, DO SOME FREAKIN' RESEARCH!"

This was one of his math problems tonight:

For those who don't have their glasses handy, it reads, "A hen laid 2 eggs yesterday and 3 more today.  How many did she lay altogether?"

Now every single kindergartener, teacher, and parent who reads this math book (and doesn't raise chickens) will have it in his head that it is not only possible, but normal for a chicken to lay multiple eggs each day.

Let me make it abundantly clear, hens cannot lay 3 eggs in one day.  It would be a rare day indeed for a hen to lay 2.  I told Turken to tell his teacher this fact, albeit with a less shrill voice.

The only reason I didn't call the publisher is because I got distracted by the adorable picture Turken drew of the chicken laying those impossible eggs.

You know what I also want to scream out loud?  (of course you do!) To the soccer club, I want to yell, "YOU ARE NUTS IF YOU THINK I'M GOING TO RUIN OUR DAY RUNNING KIDS TO ALL OF THIS CAMP NONSENSE!!"

In normal years, our club has a team camp to kick off the spring season on a Saturday in March at our fields.  Since this isn't a normal year, they came up with a plan B.  Plan B uses all the turf fields in a 30 mile radius, and for bizarre amounts of time.  Between Friday night and Sunday night, each of our 4 kids will have three one and a half hour sessions.  For each player, two of the sessions will be separated by 2 hours.  So, for example, Star has camp 40 minutes away from our house from 11:30-1 and 3-4:30 on Saturday.  Buttercup is 40 minutes away from our house in the opposite direction from 2:30-4 and 6:30-8.  Stick Giant and Phoenix in there and what you have is a whole lot of stupid.  We are not going to be stupid.

It is a shame that these things happened during my curmudgeon week.  Normally, I wouldn't get so angry.  Normally, I might be a bit sad or mildly annoyed, but not angry.  Normally, I would realize I don't know what the other person's day is shaping up to be.  I don't have a clue as to what else is going on in the story.

Normally, I would approach the recycling area littered with things that don't belong and give people the benefit of the doubt.  Perhaps the person can't read English.  Perhaps the person doesn't know about donating to Goodwill.  Who knows?

Normally, I would be much more patient with the bus driver.  For crying out loud, she drives a busload of tweens and teens home after school.  That is not a fun, easy job.  Perhaps it was a bad day on the bus, and she was just in a bad mood.

Normally, I would give the coaches some slack.  They are doing the best they can in an abnormal situation.  No other family at the club has four kids playing, so this Plan B isn't nearly as big of a problem for other families.

Normally, I would still be quite annoyed about the story problem.  It is just lazy, shoddy work perpetuating falsehoods about the poor, misunderstood chicken.

Normally, I would realize I have been quite cranky this week.  Who knows how many people I've annoyed?  Who knows how many people I've unwittingly ticked off?  How many of them gave me the benefit of the doubt and thought, "Perhaps she's had a bad day," and forgiven me on the spot?

How many people wanted to scream at me?

It's time to get back to normal.

To read more posts about screaming, head on over to Stephanie's, Kate's, Kristi's, Janine's, or Tarana's.

Have a lovely day!

Oh Sense of Huuuuuumor!!! Where Aaaaaare You???

This never-ending winter is getting to me, ya'll.  I have become a grouch.  My normal, sparklingly optimistic personality is being overrun by a grumpy, doomsday curmudgeon.  Or my normal is the curmudgeon and it's just always been held at bay by warm weather and the ability to go outdoors without freezing my teeth off.  Either way, curmudgeon city has hit the coop.

This winter is so bad.

How bad is it?

It is so bad that my bible study has gotten all excited about our expected high of 48 degrees on Friday.  We have been sending ridiculous texts saying things like, "It's going to be warm!  Let's do something outside!" and "Let's go to the zoo!"

It is a sign that a person's mind has been warped forever if she is thrilled beyond reason with the news of a 48 degree day.  The fact that it's my mind which has been warped annoys me.

Really, these days, everything annoys me.

This winter has finally pushed me over the edge.  I have lost my sense of humor.  Don't know if you've noticed, but I've been a bit scarce around here.  And when I am here, there's not much chuckling going on. I have written plenty of posts, but they are all sitting as drafts.  None are funny.  Some would probably offend people.

Titles of the abandoned posts include:

1.  For the love, quit giving your kids iPhones!

2.  Can we just stop making a person's sexual orientation late-breaking, national news?

3.  If living in a roach-infested apartment was good for me, it will be good for my kids.  Or we aren't poor, despite what our kids think.

4.  Kindergarten:  a two part series.

     a.  Wi doo peepl fink i shood reed be for i am 6?
     b.  All day vs. ...  Oh wait, I don't get the choice anymore.

5.  Your child yelled "shut up" to you from the field, and other signs you may need to lighten up.

If you need opinions, I have them in spades.

If you need a dour balance to your happy, I am your blogger.

If you need some eggs, I have 18 dozen in my fridge.

Just had to throw that out there, in case anyone in the Indianapolis area has a hankering for an omelet.  It is Lent, people.  Eggs are a great choice for those no-meat Fridays!

As I sit here feeling sorry for myself, I can hear birds chirping.  That's a good sign.  Warmer temperatures are coming to melt the snow, as well as the cold, lifeless part of me that used to be called funny.

I'm crossing my fingers.

And my toes, for added measure.

Have a lovely day!

It's Buttercup's Birthday, So I Shall Regale You With Her Birth Story. I'm Sure That's How She Wants Us to Celebrate.

One of my favorite parts of pregnancy is the anticipation.  There at the end, when each day you wake up thinking, "Is today the day?" the waddling and pressure on the bladder are just a little more fun and exciting as far as I'm concerned.  I enjoy making up all the contingency plans of who to call if I have to rush to the hospital.  Who is going to be the relative to drive to town?  Where will COW be when I go into labor?  Will I be driving myself?

I love it all.

With all of the boys, I was able to have that fun and unpredictableness of a normal delivery.  Not so with Buttercup.  It wasn't that anything was wrong health-wise, but that I was naive and didn't have the information I needed to make the right decisions.

I didn't know my doctor well when I began my prenatal appointments with her.  She was the same doctor I had with Phoenix, but I only saw her twice before he was born.  (We moved to Indy in the middle of the summer, and he was born three weeks early on Sept. 3.)  She was simply a referral from my doctor from Bloomington.  She was fine, if not warm and fuzzy, throughout the first 8 months.

When we got closer to full term, she started pestering me about my hospital choice.  I wanted to deliver at the same place I had Phoenix, while she wanted me to go to a different one.  It had nothing to do with the safety of the baby or me, but everything to do with her convenience.  I held my ground each time she asked.

Two weeks before my due date, the doctor asked if I would like to have the baby over the weekend.  I was flabbergasted.  I had no idea a woman could schedule a date to have a baby unless it was Cesarean.  COW and I went through the pros and cons as we knew them.

Cons:  We'd have to deliver at the hospital the doctor chose.  Scheduling a birth just didn't feel right, either.

Pros:  We didn't know anyone in town to call to watch Phoenix if I went into a quick labor.  It would be handy to have someone already scheduled to be here.  Plus, COW could relax and not be so worried about going to work as the due date got closer.  And, when Phoenix was born, it was proven that COW is a horrible packer of the hospital suitcase.  With an induction, I could do it, and do it correctly.

We agreed to the induction.

My sister came to town to watch Phoenix, and at 6:00 on Saturday morning we headed to the hospital.  It was quite bizarre, really, to go in without a single sign that the baby was ready to come out.  It didn't feel right.

I was already 2cm dilated, so the doctor went straight to Pitocin.  So began the most unnatural 8 hours of my life.

Once the Pitocin was started, I wasn't allowed to leave the bed.  This is a problem when one is hooked up to an IV.  The amount of fluids being pumped into a pregnant woman is crazy, and that pregnant woman has to pee.  Frequently.  My doctor wouldn't let me go.  Instead, she insisted I use a bedpan.  While being held over it by COW and a nurse.

Sorry for that image.  Delete it from your mind.

I had no idea that, in fact, I am in charge of the delivery.  I was too naive to simply ignore the woman and go to the bathroom.  Fellow life-long rule followers, you know what I mean.

In case you are unaware, Pitocin is one horrible, nasty drug.  Pitocin makes your body have contractions against it's will, thus making them much more painful than natural labor.  I did not know this at the time.  I just knew that by 9:00 I was in some unbearable pain.  I called out loud and clear for the epidural.

The epidural was in, but unlike the one I had with Phoenix, it didn't work.  One side of my body was fine, but the other felt every single contraction.  There was some relief, but it was still beyond uncomfortable.  There was some fiddling with it, but no change in pain management.

With the epidural now in place, and the contractions coming faster and harder, there was no way I was going to be able to use a bedpan.  The doctor ordered a catheter.

I will stop there.  No need for visuals.  Just know, they are no fun.

I was getting close to the end.  Contractions were right on top of each other, and I was ready.  Unfortunately, my doctor wasn't.  I had noticed that I barely saw her all day.  As I was nearing the pushing phase, I found out why.  I wasn't the only patient she had scheduled for induction that morning, and two of us were ready to pop.  The doctor kept running back and forth to see which baby was going to be born first.  Apparently I lost, as I was told in no uncertain terms that I wasn't to push until the doctor arrived.

So we waited.

I have to admit I was a bit confused as to why they were so nervous about me pushing.  With Phoenix, I pushed for 2 hours, and for most of that time the doctor wasn't in the room.  I was curious as to why I wasn't allowed to now.

Finally, the doctor rushed into the room and told me I could push.  I pushed twice, and Buttercup was born.

I could not have been more shocked.  Two pushes??  That's it??  Shocked, I tell you.

As I held my baby, the doctor cleaned up and waved goodbye.

A year later, I was talking with a woman, and she told me about the delivery of her daughter several years prior.  The story sounded similar to mine in that she was induced before her due date, more than one woman was scheduled the same day, and the doctor was running back and forth to figure out who was delivering first.  The only difference is, my friend's baby almost died.  The doctor wasn't around to see what was happening, so she couldn't do anything to fix the situation.

We had the same doctor.

I learned a few things through this delivery.  First and foremost, I would never, ever be induced again.  Secondly, I learned to ask more questions when looking for a doctor.  I didn't want a doctor who made medical decisions based on her desire to make her own life easier.

It was a good thing I learned these things, as I became pregnant again when Buttercup was only 5 months old.

We shall end this story with the one beautiful thing to come from the experience.

(You had to know a photo montage of the birthday girl was in your future.)

Happy 14th Birthday Buttercup!

First day of preschool

She could not have been more thrilled with the cats (and new kittens) which came with the house.

Once the pigs get past this size, she isn't nearly so happy to go in the pen with them.

First Holy Communion

with COW's grandpa.  He loved her best.  Every single time we visited, she stuck to his side the entire time.  He cried every single time the visit ended.

She perfected that look at a very young age.

She has been reading to her brothers since she was 3 years old.

If you are a glutton for a birth story, you can find the others by clicking the boys' names:

Phoenix
Giant
Turken
Cuckoo

You will notice that Star is missing.  His birthday is in June, so look for his story then.

Have a lovely day!

Look at Those Peaceful, Happy Animals, and other Thankful Things, TToT week 37

I am constantly impressed by the generosity of people.  Every time I turn around, I find people doing nice things for others.

Last week, I mentioned I was trying to come up with a new header for the blog.  You know, because mine was baby poop colored.  Not one, but TWO reader friends offered to make a new one for me.  I told them they most certainly didn't have to do such a thing, as they are both busy ladies.  And then, not a week later, I found one in my inbox.  With a button to match!  (Although, I don't have the button up yet.  It's late.  I'll get to it.)

So, thank you, thank you, Julia, Mini Van Dreams...and Dirty Dishes for making such a pretty header for me.  My favorite part is how she made the pigs and chickens all free of their pens.  Don't be fooled.  This isn't a peaceful drawing.  If you look closely enough, you can see it in their eyes.  They are taunting me, the crazed woman just outside the drawing.  Daring me to try to round them up and put them back in their pens.

I could find 10 things for which to be thankful just with the new header as my topic, but it feels like cheating to me.

Onward.

2.  I am thankful for our church's adult volleyball league.  There are so many fun people playing that I am guaranteed to have a good time each and every week.  We had our final games this evening, and while my team didn't win the championship, I am a winner...

3.  Because I made it through the entire season without injuring myself.

4.  I am thankful for friends with whom to carpool.  Phoenix had a soccer tournament two hours away this weekend, and with the game times being what they were, we chose not to spend the night Friday night.  We found out that his teammate's family wasn't staying either, so the moms and the boys drove down together.  It made the 4 hours of driving much more pleasant.

5.  I am thankful that the weather wasn't terribly horrible for his games.  Yes, they were outdoors.  Normally, when the winter isn't as brutal, this tournament isn't so bad.  Fortunately, we had a minor heat wave this weekend, getting up to almost 50 degrees, so his Saturday game was fine.  (Friday night was pretty cold, but there wasn't any wind or precipitation, so we called it a fine night.)

6.  I am thankful that the managers used their brains and cancelled the last day of games (Sunday).  It is predicted that we (and the city where he was playing) will get either 8 inches of snow or a bunch of ice through the day on Sunday.  Playing in THAT would have been miserable.

7.  I am thankful for the time I spent visiting with my brother and his family.  They needed a bigger vehicle, and we just happened to have a minivan sitting in our driveway collecting dust and an occasional mouse.  On Friday, he and his family came up to retrieve it, so the little boys and I were able to catch up with them and have some fun cousin time.

8.  I am thankful that the minivan made it back to Kentucky without breaking down.  That van had only been on the road for about 10 miles in the last 4 years, so I was a wee bit worried that it wouldn't make the drive.  I received confirmation that it ran fine, and they made it home without incident.

9.  I am thankful for Phoenix's new position on the high school volleyball team.  He is having a blast.  We all have a lot to learn about the sport, as it is a bit different than girls' volleyball.  I can't wait to see him play, which will be at their first scrimmage on Thursday.

10.  I am thankful for kids who do their chores with no reminders.  Star and Giant are rock stars when it comes to doing their daily chores and laundry each week.  It makes my days easier, that is for sure.

It's your turn!  What are you thankful for this week?

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A Fly on our (Chicken Coop) Wall, Considerings, Finding Ninee, Getting Literal, I Want Backsies, Mother of Imperfection, Rewritten, Thankful Me, The Meaning of Me, The Wakefield Doctrine

An InLinkz Link-up

Extra! Extra! Read All About It! "It" Being a Bunch of Thoughts Spewing Forth

There's a group of ladies, led by Jen, who are doing 7 posts in 7 days.  When I first heard of it, my thought was, "How 'bout instead, we do ZERO posts in 7 days?"  I almost made that goal.

For reasons I shall explain later, I was given the opportunity to throw the to-do list into the "not now" pile to sit and write things down.  Prepare yourself.  I'm gonna be throwing all sorts of stuff at you today.  I thought about doing it in a clever way, with headlines and everything like a newspaper (thus the title), but, as everything else in my week, intentions don't translate into reality.

1.  Winter is the worst thing ever invented.  Our handy dandy weatherman put up a little graphic on the news last night showing how many degrees below normal it will be over the next few weeks.  I did not appreciate this.  I do not want to know that for days 6-10 it will be 23 degrees below normal.  I'm even less thrilled with the news that days 1-5 will be 18 degrees below normal.  Mostly because Phoenix's soccer team has an OUTDOOR SOCCER TOURNAMENT THIS WEEKEND!!!  Pray that no one gets frostbitten, would ya?

Aaaaaaand even better awful news is the big storm heading our way.  Mere hours after Phoenix finishes his last game, snow or ice will begin to fall from the sky, either blanketing our world with 8 inches of snow or pelting us with ice.  It will all depend on how many degrees below normal we happen to be Sunday night.

2.  Cuckoo puked on me this morning.  A cold is flying through the kids, and Cuckoo woke up 2 hours early with a stuffy nose.  He crawled on my lap just in time for the coughing to begin.  As is his habit, the coughing led to an upchuck of mucus.  All over my robe.  I feel I must repeat that.  HE THREW UP ALL OVER MY ROBE!!!!  My robe.  Which is worn for my every waking moment.  My robe.  The only thing allowing me to stay thawed out enough to fulfill my daily duties.  (Don't try to make me feel better by saying, "At least it wasn't in church!"  It won't make me feel better.)  I have to admit, the thought went through my head about whether I could just wipe the puke off with a towel, pretend it never happened, and continue to wear my robe.  The only reason I took it off is because I didn't want to tarnish the perfect June Cleaver image COW has of me if he came home to find me smelling like the compost bucket the kids never remember to rinse out.
So, the robe is in the washing machine while I huddle under a few blankets.  Since I can't move from my cocoon, Cuckoo is watching Wild Kratts, and I can regale you with all of this drivel.

3.  Star keeps offering me up to take one for the team.  He told his science teacher he would do not one, but both regional science fairs.  That was bad enough, but then he told the teacher in charge of his Imagine team (a group of kids who will present their idea to a board in March on how to help solve world hunger) that we could grow the seeds at our house.  Our house.  Which has trouble getting above 60 degrees this winter.  All day long, I'm moving the blasted flats around the house, trying to maximize their time in the sun.  I guess I should just be thankful that we have sun to begin with.

4.  How about some good news?  Phoenix made the high school volleyball team!!  He has never played volleyball before this year, and the only time was in PE class.  During the volleyball rotation, the teacher brought seniors who play volleyball down to play with the freshman.  A couple of them asked Phoenix if he was going to try out.  How could Phoenix not try out after being invited by upperclassmen?

During the open gyms before tryouts, it came to light that Phoenix has something no one else in the school has.

After years of messy handwriting, trouble with scissors and myriad other tasks, his left-handedness is coming in very handy.

Seems a lefty on a volleyball court is like an 8 ft giant on a basketball court.

Now, to learn the technical steps before their first scrimmage on Tuesday...

5.  In a span of one week, we will go from zero to 2 soccer refs in our house.  Phoenix took the class last weekend, and Buttercup will do so this weekend.  In Indiana, kids as young as 12 are allowed to ref, but we don't let our kids do it that early.  One, they don't know the game well enough to be confident enough to be in charge.  Two, soccer parents are crazy.  It's well-known that soccer parents are the worst type of parents.  Yes, there are some wonderful parents, but there are a huge number of crazy people who like to scream and yell.  We aren't about to put our 12 year old in that situation.  (I've had a post on this topic rolling around in my head for a while.  Once soccer starts, I'll probably write it.)

Reffing is a great job for teens to have.  During a tournament weekend, a kid can make almost $300.  The schedule fits their lifestyle, and they learn all sorts of helpful skills.  I'm mostly excited for them.

6.  We're making progress on the "phones are used for calling, too" lessons, despite the fact I think the kids are in cahoots to make me nuts.  On Sunday afternoon, I was to pick Phoenix up from ref training at 5:00.  At 3:50, I went outside to feed the chickens.  At 4:30, as I was getting ready to go get him, I noticed a text from him saying, "We're done", sent at 3:45.  I wrote back immediately, "You are killing me!!!  I'm just leaving."

He wrote back, "I called but no one answered".

I immediately gave Star the evil eye and asked, "Did the phone ring while I was outside?"

Star:  "Um...yes.  I didn't recognize the number, so I didn't answer it."

He forgot that he doesn't have any phone numbers memorized, so he wouldn't recognize the number even if it was his dad calling.

Our follow-up lesson included instructions to Star to always answer the phone if I'm home and unable to answer it myself.  Aaaand Phoenix was praised for remembering to call, but reminded that in the future, he is to CONTINUE CALLING AND TEXTING UNTIL HE ACTUALLY REACHES SOMEONE!!!

7.  You know that minivan which shows up in all photos I take on the side of the house?

As of Friday, it will be gone.  My brother has 4 kids now, so he is looking for a minivan.  I happen to have a minivan which has had all of 10 miles put on it in the last 4 years.  I'll be a little less redneck, and he'll have a vehicle to fit his family.  Win-win.

Now to get the "I think a mouse family used the van for a home" smell out of it before Friday...

8.  Don't fear, we'll still be redneck.  Actually, Cuckoo is making me think we're closer to Honey Boo Boo than I thought.  Lately, he's found a new way to amuse himself.  Every once in while, he will press his rear end up to me and let it rip.  As in...there's no way to say this delicately...fart on me.  I never know it's coming.  The little boys love my robe as much as I do, so all day long I have kids pressing themselves into my legs (or back if I'm sitting down to play a game with someone else).  It doesn't register what he's doing until I hear and feel the reverberations.  This used to be accompanied with giggles galore from him, and admonishments from me of, "EW!  That's gross!"  A game, if you will.  Now, it's become just something to endure until he finds a new annoying way to amuse himself.  Press up against me, toot, walk away with nary a word or snicker.

9.  COW and I are planning a trip for our 20th anniversary this summer.  I was talking with a friend about how nervous I am about COW and I being on the same flight.  I actually told her I'd be more comfortable if COW and I were on separate flights, or if our entire family were on the plane together.

Yup.  I'd rather my children die in a fiery crash with me than grow up without COW and me.

I'm not just a little disturbed by this revelation.

Well, Wild Kratts is over, as is Curious George.  Cat in the Hat will be over before I get a shower if I don't get moving.

Thank you for sticking around and reading this mess of a post.  I haven't  the time for editing today, but I knew if I didn't put up a post, a few people (Dianne and Dad) may start thinking something was wrong.

Oh, wait.  Dianne and Dad are in Florida, living the warm high life.

I don't mean to imply Dianne and Dad know each other.  They don't.  Although, that would be funny if they ran into each other, started a conversation, and my dad said, "I have a daughter who writes a blog." and Dianne replied, "My favorite blog is A Fly on Our Chicken Coop Wall" and they had a whole conversation about us.

I shall see you again over the weekend for a 10 Things of Thankful post.

Have a lovely day!

The Moment You (But Mostly Cuckoo) Have All Been Waiting For and Other Stuff This Week, TToT #36

1. I am thankful for this song.

Our van might as well just have a disco ball in it we do so much dancing while driving around town.

2.  I am thankful for newspaper.  Not that I read the newspaper, but it is a very handy thing to have on hand when one lets her children celebrate warm weather by wearing their school shoes to play in puddles and climb melting snow mountains.  Do you know this trick??  Stuff your wet shoes with newspaper, and in the morning your shoes will be bone dry.

3.  I am thankful for silly dinner conversations.  One night, out of the blue, Phoenix said, "Did you know that one out of seven people in the world are Chinese.  That means one of us is Chinese.  Who is it?"

Star, without missing a beat, yelled, "Nose goes!" and touched his nose.  (Is this a local thing or a universal thing?  Whenever a general "will someone..." or something similar is asked, the last person to touch his nose is the one who has to do it.  It's a big thing around here.)  The other kids instinctively touched their noses.

And then Phoenix continued it with, "I don't know how to speak Chinese!  I don't even like Chinese food!  It can't be me!"

The dinner conversation only went into a downward spiral of silly after that.

4.  I am thankful for my children's low expectations.  In case you haven't heard, we had an unprecedented 4 and a half birthday party for Cuckoo, seeing as he won a party in a raffle.  There was no way he could wait until August to have this party, so we did a half birthday party.  I made a cake for it, but since it wasn't his real birthday, I didn't go all out.  I let him pick the color he wanted the cake part to be (yellow and blue), then made it look

Wow, this photo says so much...Christmas pjs suggest this is December, and the spots on the cheeks suggest his mom didn't clean him up after his peanut butter bagel breakfast.  Only one is true.

lame.

And yet.

Cuckoo wrote this note (after asking someone to spell everything but "Mommy" for him) to me

It reads "Mommy, you make the best cake"

and thanked me profusely several times.

5.  I am thankful for a husband who knows me well.  I forget just about everything unless it is written down.  COW knows this.  Instead of getting frustrated with me, he speaks to me and reminds me in the most useful ways.  I had started a list of things to make sure I packed in the car before leaving for the party.  We were going to be gone all day, with many things to do while out, so I had quite a few things to remember.  At one point, I went to add some things to my list and found this:

Under my note to remember play clothes, he added, "socks with no holes".  I laughed when I saw it, because hole-free socks is one of the things I was going to add.

Did you know, the hardest part about hosting a four and a half birthday party at a bouncy house place is finding socks without holes?  It's especially hard when one has a 5 year old who will actually poke a hole in his sock, then mess with it until the hole is big enough for all of his toes fit through the hole at the same time.  And he does this to every pair of socks he wears.

6.  I am thankful for a stunningly gorgeous morning.  Thanks to activities of the big kids, I have been basking in the sun half the morning.  I went for a walk.  I sat on a window sill, with the sun making it quite the perfect cozy spot to read.  So I read.

7.  I am thankful for academic competitions and teachers who encourage kids to participate in them.  Every year, the Catholic high school has a competition for all the feeder middle schools.  (10 of them) One day each week (for months) our teachers stay after school, bring snacks, plan fun games, and coach the students who decide to give the competition a whirl.  Out of 130 kids in our middle school, 80 or so participate.

8.  I am thankful for our chickens.  They are super-star layers.  Most chickens give up the laying over the winter.  Our chickens, once they finally started, have not only not stopped, but have been very generous in their egg production.  Each day, out of 24 chickens, we are getting between 18 and 22 eggs.  Remarkable, I tell you!

9.  I am thankful for Monkey Joe's for supporting Boy Scouts and donating a party pack.  They could not have been nicer while we were there.  They did all of the serving and the cleaning, they gave Cuckoo a gift, including a t-shirt he has yet to take off.  They also gave all the kids kites and frisbees to take home.  The only thing I had to pay for was the ice cream.

10.  I am thankful we were able to invite our friends and have a wonderful time.  The kids had an absolute blast.  (I'm only putting photos of the kids who I know see the blog.)

Photo dump starting in three...

two...

one...

Fight me...fight me now!

The moment he'd been waiting for...sitting in the blow-up throne announced to all that he alone was in charge.

"Mom, stop taking my picture."

"I wasn't afraid because it was just a person dressed like a monkey."

You can come back now.  The photos are done.

Your turn!  What got your toes tappin' this week?

Have a lovely day!

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A Fly on our (Chicken Coop) Wall, Considerings, Finding Ninee, Getting Literal, I Want Backsies, Mother of Imperfection, Rewritten, Thankful Me, The Meaning of Me, The Wakefield Doctrine

An InLinkz Link-up

Meltageddon, Phones That Aren't Phones, and Cuckoo Was a Perfect Name Choice...7 Quick Takes

OOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNEEEEEEEEE

At 4:30 am on Thursday, I was awakened by thunder.  Lightening was flashing and the rain was falling and the wind was howling.

It's like Mother Nature herself got tired of winter, heaved a big sigh, and blew it all away.

To leave us with this:

Yup, that's my driveway.  

Aaaand this would be off to the side of our driveway.  That water actually continues all the way out onto the street.  

The amount of water and mud around here is extraordinary!  When walking on the usually solid grass, I sink up to an inch into the ground.  Imagine what happens when I have to walk in mud.

I will not complain.

'Cause it's not snow, and I'm not freezing to death.

TTTTTTTTTTTTWWWWWWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOO

You know how since the invention of the internet, all sorts of new "words" have been created?  Things like "awesomesauce" and "snowmageddon"?  Cuckoo has never surfed the web, but he's jumping on the bandwagon.  He showed me something today (I think it was some MiniWheats that were stuck together, because that is a party every time it happens.  We have approximately 6 parties with each breakfast.), and commented that it was "hunormous".

Hunormous.

You heard it here first.

Learn it.  Remember it.  Use it.

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTHHHHHHHHHHRRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Don't know if you noticed, but my header is boring.  And baby poop colored.

I thought I'd try to come up with something better on my own.

In doing so, I have learned that web design is most certainly not a strength of mine.

This is what I have come up with so far:

The only positive is it's not poop colored.  The brightness may hurt the eyes, but it won't remind you that you have to go to the bathroom.

I'll keep working on it.  Or get someone else to do it for me.

FFFFFFFFFFFFOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRR

Times, they are a changin'.

Kids and teens are growing up with such new technology, they see things vastly differently than we do.

For example, in the car today, as always, we were listening to the radio.  A song Cuckoo doesn't particularly like came on, and he asked me to skip it.  He couldn't wrap his brain around the fact that one could not actually skip a song he doesn't like when listening to the radio.

While that was amusing, another incident all but knocked me to the ground with it's shock value.

Wednesday night, Phoenix had plans to work at the food pantry after school.  I was to pick him up at 7:30 or so.  At 6:50 I was getting ready to leave, and I looked at my phone.  There was a text from Phoenix which said, "Nobody showed up".  Plans had been cancelled.  He had sent that text at 5:19.  From 5:19 until I responded at 6:50, he did nothing else to contact me.

When I picked him up, it was clear that he was bored out of his skull for the 2+ hours he was waiting at school.  Part of our conversation went like this...

Me through gritted teeth, because all that went down was extremely inconvenient and a big time-waster:  Why didn't you just call the house?

Him:  It never crossed my mind.

Me:  Are you telling me you had a telephone in your hand, yet it never occurred to you to actually dial your home number with it?

Him realization dawning:  Um, no.  It never did.

From now on, we will no longer be able to call it a phone.  People under the age of 20 don't know how to actually use a telephone.  We need a new word.

Teletext?  Thumber?  I have no idea.  One of you etymology people needs to get on this for me, wouldja?

FFFFFFFFFFFFIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVVVVVVVVVVVEEEEEEEEEE

I love the Olympics.  I do believe I've shared that with you before.  However, I am going to be glad when they are over.  I need me some sleep.  NBC, of course, always put my favorite events last, so they can maximize their advertising.  I, of course, have to stay up to watch them.  It's all just too exciting, I can't be satisfied with only seeing highlights on the morning news.  

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Speaking of the Olympics, don't know if you heard of the fellow Hoosier, Nick Goepper, who won bronze in slopestyle, but he's awesome.  A bit of his story was shown before he competed (after the little kids were in bed), including some home videos from when he was a child.  They showed him jumping off the couch, the table, and anything else he could find.  There were mats on the floor to catch him after he flipped and spun his way off the furniture.  While I watched, I thought about what great parents he had.  99% of parents would have scolded their son for doing such things, making the boy stop before he broke the furniture or his head.  Nick's parents, though, encouraged him to be himself.  They even allowed him to build a contraption in the backyard, turning the area into a mud pit which rivals the muck in my driveway.  

The next day, as I cleaned the kitchen, I heard Cuckoo playing the piano.  He doesn't "play" as much as he pounds the keys into submission.  I went over to take a peek at him playing, when much to my shock and dismay, he was not playing the piano at all!  He was standing on it!!  Once he got himself turned around and situated, he launched himself into the air and into the jump-o-lene strategically placed nearby.

That video of Nick Goepper immediately went through my mind, and I had myself a conundrum.  Was I going to go with my first instinct and yell, "Stop doing that before you break your head!" or calmly walk away and leave him to it?

Guess what I did.

I'll just say that if he doesn't become an Olympic medal winner, I'm gonna be mad.

SSSSSSSSSSSEEEEEEEEEEEVVVVVVVVVVVVEEEEEEEEEENNNNNNNNN

Today is the day!!! After much anticipation and discussion ad nauseam, the half birthday party at the bounce house place has arrived.  The cake has been baked.  The friends have been invited.  The boy has been told that he doesn't get to dictate who does and does not get ice cream.

This should be interesting.

I'll be sure to tell you all about it in my 10 Things of Thankful tomorrow.  Probably with an annoying number of photos.  'Cause I know you live for them.  :)

Head on over to Jen's to read some other quick takers.  

Have a lovely day!