Boy, oh boy

Though I am well acquainted with the joys and woes of unrequited love, I was not quite yet prepared to have a conversation about it with my oldest child.

I noticed as he got off the bus on Monday that his cheeks looked really red. I assumed it was hot on the bus. Then, once everyone was off the bus, he said, Momma, are my cheeks red. I said yes, did someone slap you? No, he said. Are you blushing? I asked. No. I'm in loooove.
You are? Yes.

Then he tried to make me guess who. She sits across from him on the bus. He was acting all giddy and silly. Very much like someone in love. What he told me next was quite surprising. She doesn't love me, but that's okay. I'm still in love with her. How do you know? I asked. I asked her. (Wasn't expecting that). I also told her I wanted to kiss her. (Really wasn't expecting that). I tried to explain that it was okay to be in love, but you can't go around telling people you want to kiss them. I burst his bubble a little. But I don't want him to get in trouble. But I had this vision of him at 17, full of angst ridden unrequited love. He's so much like his daddy.

Then, on Wednesday, I drove to the bus stop on my way home from the mall. When we got home I asked the boy to wait outside with Baby M, who was asleep in the car, while I took W up to bed. Sure, he says. I take W up to bed and take his shoes and socks off, then head back outside. I don't see P. anywhere. Where are you? I yell. then I look around to the other side of the van and see a very white behind. Pull your pants up!! I yell. What?!! he says. I needed to go to the bathroom. That's when I realize that I had jokingly told him to use a tree at the bus stop the other day when he got off the bus and had to go really bad. He said no way! so I didn't really think about it again. He couldn't understand why I was so upset that he peed on the tree that's about 2 feet from the road. I was laughing so hard, I nearly didn't make it to the bathroom myself.

For your amusement

I somehow stumbled across the results of the annual Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest. Apparently Mr. Bulwer-Lytton is the man who first penned the words "It was a dark and stormy night." Therefore, the contest is to see who can come up with the worst first lines of a book. There are several categories. My favorite was from the romance category:

Bill swore the affair had ended, but Louise knew he was lying, after discovering Tupperware containers under the seat of his car, which were not the off-brand containers that she bought to save money, but authentic, burpable, lidded Tupperware; and she knew he would see that woman again, because unlike the flimsy, fake containers that should always be recycled responsibly, real Tupperware must be returned to its rightful owner.

Jeanne
Novato, CA

Have fun!


Meanwhile, back at the ranch,

It's a dark and stormy day here. It was pouring this morning at bus time. Then a while after I got back, I heard our storm sirens going, and we were under a tornado watch. fortunately the suspect cloud activity was south of us, but it has been raining off and on all day. I just hope it slacks off at afternoon bus time. This kind of weather makes my head feel weird. I think the babies are affected, too. They've not been in a good mood and have runny noses. My sewing machine stopped working right last night. I am going to go see if it is anything I can fix. It seems to be a bobbin problem. It's probably time for a tune up. I am glad work is starting nexr week, I could really use a paycheck.

WooHoo

My Converse have made it to the "featured project" category on Craftster! I feel so affirmed in my footwear choices. :)

We got to go see my in laws new house this weekend. We had our first family get together for the twin's birthday. We are all jealous of how beautiful their house is. Then, two deer came through the woods at the back and stood there quietly and ate while we all gawked at them. I saw another one a little later.

I've been sewing all week, but I keep forgetting to take pictures. I'll get around to it one day.

hope everyone is having a good day.

Peanuts

The boy has discovered the world of Charlie Brown. I had an old Peanuts book on the shelves in their room, and he discovered it the other night. Splitcat gave him a giant hardback treasury last night, and he is already nearly halfway through. I am so glad he likes it.


In other news, some of you may remember that I worked on a girl's retreat last spring. Well I will be working on the fall one, too. But this time I have to work hard. For those who know what I am talking about, I am going to be Head Cha. If you don't know what that means, basically I'll be doing a lot of administrative work(collecting permission forms, money) and making sure the weekend runs on schedule and everyone is doing their job so the director can concentrate on the girls attending the weekend. I am excited. But I am once again shamelessly soliciting your prayers. I know, I'm a demanding blogger. I don't know if you will be hearing a lot from me in September because I will probably be very busy, but I'll try to keep everyone udpated with pictures of the twins, since I know that is the main reason some of you read me.

Happy Birthday Boys!

My Boys are 2 today. It's hard to believe it has been 2 years. They continue to be delightful and wonderful, even with all the trouble they manage to get into. Their personalities keep growing more every day. Baby W is mischievious and loves to climb. Baby M is quiet, until he opens his mouth. They are fun and a challenge. I am looking forwrd to them talking to know what they are thinking. Habby Birthday Boys!

My in-laws closed on their old and new houses yesterday. When we went over to say goodbye to the old house and get a few things we had stored there, they brought down 2 quilts my f-i-l's mother had made. One was in fairly good condition, but the other was covered and seemed to have quite a bit of damage. Since my f-i-l wanted them to stay in the family, I, of course, took them both. So the other night I began the process of unwrapping the damaged quilt. It was quite fun, since I did not know what I was going to find.

It was tacked about every 2 inches. It took about an hour to snip all the knots.



It was probably a very brightly colored quilt when first made. This is the center portion of the quilt. There are 2 more panels that aren;t showing. The long strips are very badly damaged; the fabric has pretty much disintegrated. I am going to try to rescue the blocks that are in good shape. There was water damage done to it at some point, so I am going to try to take each block and clean it. Then I have plans I cannot share at this time. But it was really cool to unwrap this piece of my husband's family history.

First Day of School

Today is the first day of school. My baby girl got on the bus and headed off to kindergarten. I could tell she was nervous and excited. Two little boys from down the street are in her class. Her teacher seems nice, and one of the little boys' older sister had her, and liked her. I think the boy will be good, too. My only concern is that he is sitting next to the little boy who bullied him in kindergarten. So we'll see how it goes.

Babies are crying, must go. I'll update with photos later.

My dream shoes

Sometimes dreams do come true.

Some of you may remember my shoe post from my other blog long time ago. I mentioned that I really wanted the new Converse xx-hi tops. Well, with my birthday money I bought them. I thought they made a beautifully blank canvas and set out to embroider them by hand. It was a somewhat painful process. Then my mother shows me her newest machine embroidery cd, and the designs were exactly what I was looking for. So on Tuesday I went over to her house and we embroidered my shoes. We chose a phoenix and she altered the design to make it longer to fit more of the shoe. Then I added some small colored "jewels"(they were iron-ons) and it really gave the design some depth. I think I may have to be unfashionable and wear them even though it is still a little hot here. I looooooove them. I posted them at Craftster and have gotten a good response.

A few weeks ago I posted a Johnny Flynn video. I've been waiting for the album to come out, and lo and behold, when I went to Borders the other night it was somewhat prominently displayed(I thought I would have to order it through Amazon). What makes it even better is that it was on sale, and I had a gift card. I can't stop listening to it. So here's another video.






Not much else going on around here. One week of summer vacation left. I will be working again this year at a Mother's Morning Out program at a nearby church. My old boss is starting a new program. I will be the Infant room "teacher." Right now there is just one baby enrolled. I am really looking forward to taking care of babies again. My babies are about to turn two. I will just be working 2 days to start, but the boys are going to go three days. They need to be around people besides me. The girl is starting Kindergarten. I can't believe it. P. will be in 2nd grade. I am at that confusing point where I will miss everyone, but I can't wait for school to start. My sister's kids start tomorrow. Splitcat doesn't go back till the middle of next week. I am glad, so he can be here for the girl's first day of school. Now that I am getting normal amounts of sleep, I think I will be able to deal with school much better. The last two years were pretty hard, trying to keep up with very little sleep. Baby M has been sleeping well for the last couple of months. He still has random bad nights, but they are getting fewer and farther between. I almost feel sane.