Special Delivery

As I was walking back to the house going thru the mail, I opened this brochure for Mercer's Family Weekend. We attended it last year - Mike, Gib, Mariah and I. I looked at the schedule and wondered if anyone ever attends year after year or if it's a one and done thing. I thought about whether or not we'd enjoy trying for more of the touristy stuff this time around or if it's only the families of freshmen that go. My eyes scan the photo at the bottom, then the photo at the top. Then I see a cute little girl getting her lunch. I think to myself, "Wow, she sure looks like my little girl used to look like! But we never owned that shirt" I look again. She REALLY looks like my girl. Finally, I notice the man standing opposite her - well, THAT is definitely my husband!!!!

What really made me laugh is that was one fateful lunch if you know what I mean. I took one bite of the coleslaw and KNEW not to eat any more. Mike didn't take my advice and lunch bothered him for hours. Looks like it's coming back at ya one more time!

Mariah arrived home a minute later and confirmed that is indeed her, but wondered how in the world she could be so little!!! My thought exactly. The question of the shirt was answered too: Taryn loaned it to her! I had forgotten about that.

Mike's shirt on the other hand ... Well, let's just say I am removing all Red Cross shirts from his collection. C'mon Man!!!

Are You Ready

FOR SOME FOOTBALL?! The first Monday night of the season features two games - San Diego Chargers at the Kansas City Chiefs and Baltimore Ravens go on the road to face the New York Jets. We've all got a stake in the games for our fantasy team outcomes in Week One, except poor Mariah who I think is looking pretty much like me when I'm Baby Peach zipping around in the stroller off the track going the wrong way crying in 12th place. Well, actually, nobody is THAT bad!

So obviously, it's that wonderful time of year again! Our friendly fantasy league is up and running and the competitive streaks are already rising. It started on draft day as Gib, Mariah, Mike and I huddled in the office with 2 computers, and 2 laptops and pretended to give advice to one another, when in fact we were suggesting picks that steered opponents away from the pick we wanted. Or, perhaps that was just me. And Gib. Whatever. But hey, at least we were subtle! Mike helped Mariah; Gib and I were on our own. Thrown to the wolves. So we did our best to survive.

The best part of the draft was when Margo's first pick came up. She snatched the practically untouchable New Orleans QB Brees from the guy in the league who ALWAYS builds a New Orleans fantasy team centered around Brees and a couple major Saints players. The gasp was heard around the world... well, around our house anyway. And then the laughing because this guy is, shall we say, good sportsmanship challenged?! His fantasy team name is rude and he demanded a re-draft because "he forgot". NOT! I am pretty sure he will give up by week 3. Unless somebody bets him he can't make it. Then he might try to hang in there.

Week One and Margo is slinging it out with HIM! And it's a nail biter!! I'm rooting for Margo of course, and with just tonight's game left, they are practically neck and neck with just two RB's left to play. Margo has Mcgahee on the Jets and the other guy has Jamaal Charles (whoever he is) on KC. Mcgahee is projected to get 2 less points, and she needs every point she can get to win it. I'm cheering for ya Margo!!!

Now onto the San Diego game. Gib and I are matched up against each other. So far I'm ahead by a mere 19.5 points. Gib still has Rivers the Chargers QB to play and the Jets defense/special teams. That is no bueno for me. I only have Antonio Gates, the TE for the Chargers left. I'm telling ya, every TD better be Rivers connecting to Gates!!! And the Ravens better take it to the Jets!

But that wouldn't be good for Mike. His fantasy opponent only has one hope left and that is the Baltimore defense/special teams. If they rip on the Jets, Mike might lose this week.

GO RAVENS!

I remember that draft.....

I'm Melting!

I know - you're thinking I got wet. Hah.

It's much worse. I touched Poison Ivy. With my bare hand.

There are these two Boxwood bushes on either side of our walkway by the front door. There is a stupid 4' sucker weed growing in the middle of one of them. Every now and then it reaches the top and we whack off as much of it as we can, but we can't get rid of it completely because who knows what is Boxwood and what is weed once you get down to bare wood underneath the evergreen leaf areas. Very frustrating. For weeks now there has been about 5" of weed sticking out above the Boxwood driving me crazy everytime I drive in. As I took out some trash to the curb, I came in and determined I would just grab some scissors and take care of it until next time it surfaces.

As I go to turn away, I see a vine and I go hmmmm, wonder where that came from? We get several varieties of weed vines too, so I reach behind the Boxwood, grab Mr. Vine with my finger and thumb and snip him with the scissors too. As I drag, and drag about 5 feet of vine and think Holy Moly there was alot more than I thought under the Yew, it reaches me and I drop it!

YIKES! LEAVES OF 3! LEAVES OF 3!!!!!

Many minutes later, several washings of dish soap, lysol scrub wipes, and fingers taped with first aid tape so as not to spread ivy all over myself should I end up with it.... I can still feel it SEEPING INTO MY SKIN.....

I'm melting.... I'm melting..... No wait... I'm itching, I'm itching. It has already begun. I think I might have touched my mouth. I need to go see if my lips are swelling.

P.S. As luck would have it, 10 minutes later my mom appeared with gardening gloves on to take care of that nasty weed. I ran out to tell her to be careful of the poison ivy. She sent me for the Round Up. Then I think I touched the Round Up container where her Poison Ivy infected gloves touched it too.

Back to the kitchen to wash. I'M MELTING, I'M MELTING!!!

Oh My!

Today was one of those days when you wish you could have just had a PASS for. Not that others don't have it worse, just that I didn't feel like I was up to the task. At Chapel Time the assistant director read The Giving Tree, which I know many find to be a lovely book, but I have to admit I don't like it. It hurts my heart, always has and always will. I was in no mood for it today. I had tears in my eyes the whole time and was trying not to let them escape.

There were certainly challenges aplenty at preschool today - for the GIRLS, the guys had it easy!

• Going to Chapel Time: 2 girls, 1 public bathroom, me (lucky me), 1 lost shoe, 1 child who didn't need to go, a child in the Chapel who did (wrong kid, right name came inside), and the other child backed her rear end into the handicapped toilet and pinched herself on the lid and screamed bloody murder. (Ms. Chrissie takes as deep a breath as is advisable in a public bathroom).
• Elevator ride after Chapel Time w/28 kids: (Ding!) SCREEEEAAAAM!!!!! A girl has put her arm down the hand rail attached to the elevator walls and when it stops she becomes wedged in. Really stuck about at the biceps. For a second I was thinking, broken arm, dislocated shoulder or elbow due to the screaming. And this is not a little girl. Nooooo. I can barely lift her. And she is panicking, and trying to pull away since she is too short to pull up any higher. The only way out is to go up. As the other teacher is trying to evacuate the kids another child almost gets shut in the doors. Oh that was fun! In that moment of extra adrenaline, I decided that even if the arm was broken that we just had to get her out first and then immobilize it and deal with it. So I did a herculean heave on her, carried her out and we sat down on the ground so Ms. Chrissie could recover. Ice packs arrived and we talked about the time my neice Kelly got her head stuck in stair railings and my son Gib got his butt stuck in a vaporizer. We laughed. (Thanks Gib!) Her arm was fine and not even a bruise a few hours later. By the way, her class ran to the teacher to report the event and their burst eardrums - no lie!!

Crazy enough, these moments are sooo typical for both these lovely little preschool ladies. I am just out of shape. 3 Boo-Boo reports in one day. And a stern talking to by Ms. Chrissie to an entire class because their teacher looked like she was ready to have a meltdown and they broke 2 new toys today, and the coup d'grace - I had to ask 3 times to get anyone to finish cleaning up this afternoon! Whoa! There went that great start to preschool for that class. They do still walk in a line admirably well though! They were promising me the moon when my 2 minute lecture was over.

On the plus side, though, I didn't get stung by any of the wasps that were in a nest in a classroom over Labor Day weekend before the "janitor" got to them, and I wasn't the teacher that gave a 3rd kid a boo-boo. That's something to be thankful for.

Poetry

There's been alot of poetry going on around here. I bought a couple books from CWC outlet because they sounded really interesting to send to my college girls. It's called House of Belonging. I thought I'd better read one first just to make sure they weren't complete duds. I'm working my way slowly and pondering the poems one or two at a time. I'm not giving it a review just yet. Some I've liked, some I didn't really get, and some I've just gone "oy". I've never read a book of poems before, so I'm probably not the best to review a book anyway.

Then we have Mariah's language arts class. They are studying poetry right now so she often has to write a poem for homework. The other night she wanted some assistance. Mike ever so happily passes the kids right to me for this and I honestly don't mind, but I was kind of playing with him so I tried to lobby one back at him. He sends Mariah my way and I go, "but Mariah, your dad is so good at poetry! Haven't you heard about all the love poems he used to write me?" How this went over her head, I'll never know. But another day, another poem later, she is working on another poem and decides to write two and asks me which one is better for the assigned project. I tell her which one I think has a better flow and use of descriptive words and evokes images for me and she says something like, get this (I'm sorry Mariah, this is too priceless) "do you think I get it from dad, like when he wrote love poems to you?". Oh, baby girl. I love that last little bit of innocence in the family!!!

In Mike's defense he has has his own style of steady commitment and he is a rock and I love him! But "what's shakin' bacon" is I think the best I've heard of his poetry skills, which is why I found this so funny!

NOT Noteworthy?

So if you saw a kid running through the parking lot in a Speedo when you were waiting to pick up your daughter from her first middle school dance, don't you think you would mention as a notable event of the evening?

• The report I got was that Mariah jumped up and down for 2 hrs straight and had just exhausted herself silly!

The next morning, Mariah - who had passed out by the time I got home from work - told me all about how she danced and danced and danced. Not one word of Speedo Boy.

• Today I read on facebook (gotta love it) from her friend that "the dance was fun except at the end when a guy ran around outside in a speedo only". Oooookay. I turn to Mike who goes, "Oh yeah, that happened right in front of me".

The eyebrow goes up. The questioning of his sanity and reporting ability begins. FYI: It was a kid, not a grown up. Just a future offender, folks so it's ok to laugh. Hopefully his parents get him straightened out and he is just a little prankster!! But, seriously, that would have the FIRST thing I would have mentioned if I had been the pick up parent and the other parent said "so how was the dance?".

I'm still smiling a little. I wonder if any of the girls shrieked? I need to ask some more questions.....

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