Fall Leaves

I spent quite a while out in the chicken yard this morning. I was raking all of the fall leaves. Yes, fall. As in those leaves have been there for several months. Anyway, all the leaves were making it so grass couldn't grow, and our chickens love grass, so they had to go.

And I tell you what, raking around chickens is pretty much a comedy show. I'd rake a beautiful pile and move on to another part of the yard where I'd rake another beautiful pile. The thing is, while I'd be raking the second pile, the chickens were quietly being quite busy turning my first pile into about eight small piles.

Adorable...I love my girls!

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Going just a Tad Punk

The big guy's car is out of commission, so I've offered to let him borrow my car since I can pretty much just walk or ride my bike anywhere I'd like to go.  It's been hard on the big guy, though.

You see, he has a sweet little sports car, a lovely thing that reeks of power and cool.  Me?  Well, I have a sweet little Prius, a sweet thing that reeks of practicality. 

Big guy:  "No, mom.  I don't want to be seen driving to school in a Prius."


But he's been using it frequently anyway because he does need to get from here to there.  Thing is, I've noticed that he's made one small adaptation to my car.  And I'm not counting the fact that he scoots the seat all the way back so his tall, lanky self can fit.  No, it's that he removes the sweet little origami crane that I have hanging from my rear view mirror and puts it in the cup holder. 


Me:  "Hey, you keep taking my crane off when you use my car."

Big guy:  "Yeah, mom, it's bad enough that I have to drive around in a Prius with an 'Oops, I went punk' sticker on it.  I am not driving around with that crane, too."


It's OK, I can rehang an origami crane with the best of them.  And, hey, it's good for the big guy to go just a tad punk.

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All Wild and Curly

This morning I woke up to the most amazing bed head I think I've ever had.  Truly, I rather looked like Medusa...on a bad snake hair kind of day.

Now what's nice about my mornings is that I get to spend them alone.  Well, not counting the dogs and cats.  So my family is spared the sight of morning me.  But on the rare occasion that one of them does pop out into the living room before the sun comes up, well, I shout out a preemptive "I'm pretty!!!"

You know, in case they aren't able to see through my wild exterior and all.

 Exhibit A...Insert "I'm pretty!!!" here.

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Hip Check on a Hippie Check

Me:  "Who's more hip...me or dad?"

Both of my kids point at me.

Dave:  "Who has more hips?"

Little guy:  "I think that's her, too."


I'm just going with that makes me a hippie chick.

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Bubblicious!

OK.  I made a new discovery today that was so awesome!  And I know you likely already know about it, but to me it was all new and amazing.  Today for the first time ever, I tried one of those bubble drinks.  Bubblicious awesomeness!!!  I got avocado milk...with bubbles... which made my family curl their lips and raise at least one eyebrow in suspicion, but it full on rocked!

Avocado...perfection!
Sweet condensed milk...bliss!
Tapioca balls...fabulous!

It's officially my new favorite thing!

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Marco Polo

I remember not liking that game as a kid.  I found it completely impossible as someone for whom dog paddling was the best swim stroke available.  I got stuck in the land of "it" for way, way too long.  But when I played it today with my kids I pretty much loved it.  I realized there are a few tricks that I didn't know about when I was a youngster.

1 - Splash the face of the person who is "it" if they're pursuing you.

2 - If I'm "it" full on lunge in the direction of the "Polo".  Hold nothing back.

3 - Oh, and it's OK to peek every once in a while.  It makes it so much more enjoyable.

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Smile

I go for walks every day.  Sometimes twice a day if I'm feeling particularly ambitious.  And when I'm walking I'm so, so, so happy!  Truly it's pure bliss.  And when I'm on my walks I always have a companion...one of my two sweet dogs or my iPhone playing podcasts from NPR shows (not the news).

What I've noticed is this.  I catch myself smiling or laughing goofily often throughout my walks.  I also catch a lot of other people not smiling or laughing.  And so one of my favorite things is to catch other people's eyes and share a genuine smile with them.  And I tell you what, I bet 90% of them return my smile...and if I'm with one of my dogs they got a big smile, too.

So go share a smile, they're seriously contagious!

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California Dreaming

I happened to notice that today is the five year anniversary of Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett's deaths.  As sad and shocking as that day was, it was also a day when one of my most favorite memories was created.

My boys and I were somewhere between Austin, TX and San Jose, CA at a Holiday Inn Express on a road trip to my brother's house.  We'd tossed our stuff in the room and headed straight to the pool.

Now, I'd noticed all the Harleys parked out front, but had no idea that the whole biker gang had also tossed their stuff in their room and headed straight to the pool.  My then fourteen and ten year old sons and I just considered this to be yet another fabulous adventure on our second voyage out west.  We jumped right in and had some amazing conversations with the most oddly tanned people I've ever encountered.  Seriously, riding a motorcycle  for hundreds of miles with only a bandanna upon your head leaves you with quite a funny forehead tan.

They were all fabulously delightful...and the best part, at least for me, was the biker dude who insisted upon serenading me with Dionne Warwick's "Do you Know the way to San Jose?" over and over and over again.  I was in biker babe heaven!

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An Unexpected Overnight Guest

I woke up this morning and discovered that we had a most delightful unexpected overnight guest.  Right by our front door sat a toad.  An adorable, lumpy, clearly missing the great outdoors as he was staring at the door, toad.

And right beside this toad was our kitten, seemingly just as puzzled by our wee little guest as I.

I picked that sweet little fella up, opened the door a crack, and set him outside.  Our kitten looked at me, looked at the toad, and then looked back at me as if saying, "Them's not good eatin', mama." I'm quite sure he at least gave that little toad a taste test lick.

Come back for an overnight any time, little fella!

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Texting...Leaf Blower Style

When it comes to texting, I'm like that nutty guy with the leaf blower.  There's that one leaf that just won't comply and go where the dude wants it to.  Does he just lean over and pick up the errant leaf?  Nope.  No way.  He blows it this way and that and this way again.  I get it.  He wants to use the tool he's got available, right?

When it comes to texting I'm so like that nutty leaf blower guy.  You know there's that really cool little microphone feature there so you can just say what you want to have in your text.  I use it all the time.  And it's far from perfect.  I wanted to tell someone to get bean and cheese burritos, and even though I said it as clearly as I could muster, it kept on coming up, "being burritos".  Did I just take a second and manually type in "bean and"?  Nope.  No way.  I tried recording it over and over and over again.  I had the tool available and I wanted to use it.

Me?  I get that nutty leaf blower guy.  Yup.


P.S.  Yes, I did eventually manually type in "bean and".  But I didn't like it.

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For the Love of Fun

I've been all sorts of moms over the years.  A soccer mom (yes, I did have a minivan at the time).  A football mom.  A track mom.  A wrestling mom.  But I have to say that my favorite thus far is being a rocket mom.  And it's a very good thing that it's my favorite as it's the only one that isn't defined by seasons or years.  It's not even defined by something as simple as a match or a game, by quarters or halves, or anything.  It's the activity that goes on and on and on.  And it has.  For years now.  And it is SO MUCH FUN!

So you know how they're always saying it's not, but it turns out it really is rocket science.  Fun, that is.

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Spring Break...uh, who's excited?

The kid and I were hanging out in the kitchen when we got home today.


Me:  "Yay, SPRING BREAK!!!"

Little guy:  "I'm definitely more excited than you are, mom."

Me:  "How do you figure?"

Little guy:  "I just know that all the students in town are more excited than their teachers about spring break."


Yeah, I'll let him think that.

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Singing the Praises of Winter Break

Turns out that bursting into my kid's room whilst belting out "School's out for Winter Break!" to the tune of Alice Cooper's "School's out for Summer" doesn't create the animated happy response I expected.  Is it because finals just ended and exhaustion has taken over?  Maybe.  Is it because it's only a two week break?  Possibly.  Is it that my rendition is some kind of awful?  The likeliest answer.

I'm good with that...because I've got two weeks off for fun with family, friends, art, writing, and doing absolutely nothing!

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My Inner Dare Devil got Scared!

I'm typically not much of a risk taker.  Seriously, I'm a safety first kind of girl.  But for some reason my inner dare devil took over a couple nights ago.  You see, there was a storm approaching.  Hugely visible to the east...and heading my way.  And did I decide to take my dog for a long walk?  You bet I did!

It was all groovy at first...passing the ditch with all the awesome mice and rats scurrying around...rounding the corner...and FLASH!  The sky to the east lit up like crazy.  Did I turn on my heels and head straight home?  Nope, I kept on going.  Up the hill, past all the apartments, down the hill...and then I started freaking out.  The sky got really dark, the flashes of lightning stopped being cloud-to-cloud and became cloud-to-ground, the wind picked up, and I felt like I had a target on my head.

I was at my half-way point anyway, so it was the perfect time to change my trajectory homeward.  Only I wasn't sure what exactly I should do...to avoid getting struck by lightning, that is.

Should I stay under the cover of trees?

Should I stay away from power lines?

Should I be out in the open?

Should I walk on the street?

Should I walk in the grass?

The only thing I did know for sure was that I definitely was not going to walk on those big metal plates street workers put to cover up big holes they'd made in the asphalt.  That and I figured it really was statistically possible that I'd get struck by lightning.  People do, apparently.

Oh, and I figured out that I couldn't possible make my body just walk...yup, this girl who never runs unless being chased turned into a runner that night.

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