Just a little something.

It must be something about my skin.  You can NOT put a stamp on my hand, and be able to read it 2 minutes later.  It always goes blurry.

We went out last night.  Our friend Lisa turned 30.  I've never been to an 70's/80's themed club before.  It wasn't really me.  But what is?  [insert moment of despondence related to my lack of a category here]  Anyway, it's nice to do something different that you wouldn't choose on your own every now and then.

I opened the windows to air out the house, and now I'm so cold that my hands are going stiff.  I had to close everything back up.

Guess what!  Rob K is in town!  He was at Lisa's party (makes sense...he's her brother).  Josh was so excited to have his best friend around.  It's cute.  And me, too.  He's my dear friend, too.  It's just not as noticeable on me, since I get that excited anytime any of my friends come out.

This week at work was not so bad.  And I handled everything alone.  Josh didn't notice that the house stays clean when he isn't here.  I guess that's part of the problem, eh? 

I've been having a difficult time with the kids.  I guess that the End Of The School Year attitude that I saw at school is contagious.  They've been fussed a lot for snotty behavior these last 3 days or so.  They're still nice kids, mind.  I just don't accept the tone of voice they've been experimenting with.

It's Mothers' Day.  My mother does not like Mothers' Day.  She says that if she isn't appreciated and wanted the other 364 days of the year one suck-up phone call is not going to make up for it.  When Brother worked in the food industry, he said that Mothers' Day weekend was the busiest of the whole  year.  I believe it.

Here are some particularly beautiful flower arrangements:

According to my Victorian Flower Dictionary, Iris flowers symbolize a message.  Lilies represent majesty.

     Tulips are a declaration of love.

 Orchids = refined beauty.

 

 

I am thinking especially about all my friends who have Angel Mommies, today.  Love to you guys, and to all. 

 

Head Cold

Yep. I feel terrible. It's not stopping me from enjoying all the spring-ness. But it is stopping me from jumping for joy about it.

I kinda breezed through that last post, as we were really about to leave. Let me say again that my mommy came over, and brought beautiful flowers for me! I planted them yesterday.

I put the iris from Mom's yard down by the fence. They're not the "good" iris, they're the chunky purple and brown ones. That's why I assigned them to that location. The bottom of my yard is a strip of wet clay. Anything that doesn't die and makes flowers for me to see from the deck is welcome. Abbie and Grant each had tulips, and the kids decided they wanted them in my already established "flower bed" next to the deck stairs. I had never seen daffodils with a "pink" center before (looks more salmon than pink), and mom gave me two of them. One I split under the mailbox, and one I put with the tulips in the "flower bed". I also dug up those tulips that seemed to still be in the front yard and put them up by the house with the rest of the transplantees. Hope I got them all this time. Oh, and I figured out why I missed them last fall: they were planted too deep. I've never had coral bells before. I dug a big rectangle next to the garage for the one my mom gave me. It's on the corner. And back to the "flower bed" - that's where I planted the beautiful bulbs my dad gave me for Valentine's Day.

That may not sound like much, but you have to understand a few things. Thing number one: I'm sick. Bleh. Thing number two: clay is really [insert vulgar adjective of choice]ing hard to dig! Thing number three: The kids lost my good spade, so I only had a dandelion weeder and a cheap little spade that bent every time I used it. Plus the full sized shovel, which I confess I started using toward the end. I was pretty worn out after planting all of that. I'm not done, either. I have a peony that I'm going to put on the front corner by Abbie's window, and a weird little ground cover that I still don't know what the heck to do with. Plus, for the deck, I have to re-pot a pink geranium, a red geranium, parsley and rosemary.

By the way, I also did a little weeding. There is this weed - tell me if you know the name of it - and it has long, rounded, darkish leaves all from the center (think dandelion) and a huge taproot. I got one out of the ground yesterday and said, "Good grief! It's as big as a carrot!" A very bendy, long carrot. I've nicknamed them "vegetable weeds". I have removed several from my yard and I feel pretty darn good about it...except that huge holes remain in their stead.

Well, I was too sick to do taiko. Actually, I was pretty sure that I would not be doing much actual drumming, but this cold is very contagious. Abbie got it, and then the rest of us had it the next day. Not a good sign. Usually I get whatever head cold is going around, but not the boys. We all got this one. And right away. I could only imagine the creative names I would get called if I showed up unnecessarily to practice, infected them all, and then stayed home while they were stuck driving to Wisconsin with colds. BUT! Michelle couldn't get another ride. Her parents, for some reason, couldn't take her, and Eddie was staying home. So, I loaded up the kids, drove to Denny's, and took Michelle to practice. I let them walk around for a minute before putting them back in, and got a nice surprise: Jenn was meeting Bill, who was going to take Carter home, so Carter and my kids got to talk a little (from a safe distance) before we left. That was great. We all love Carter. But then we had to go back home. I was starting to feel bad again. I needed a few things from Wal-mart, but didn't stop. Too sick. Too tired. But the kids slept all the way to UMSL, so they didn't go to bed early.

Oh, I forgot to tell you: we went to Lisa's house and stayed all afternoon and evening and then some. The kids watched sponge bob. Not my favorite at all, but what can you do? And we grilled, and played washers. Her dad made her a mini set. It's cute. She had a friend named Andrew who came by, but he wasn't the easiest guy to talk to. And he spent a large part of the day looking up sports scores on his phone. I'm sure he's nice, though. Chris came by later. Much more fun. Secretly, I was too sick to go out, but didn't know it until it was too late. Like...around 4:30 or so.

Today, it is rainy. I checked on my plants. Most of the tulips that went into the ground yesterday look unhappy. The daffs look fantastic, though.

I need to get a few things at Wal-mart still. Kleenex, for example. After that, though, I'm in for the night. I'm exhausted. Yesterday has officially caught up with me. I feel terrible. Really, I shouldn't even be going out. But when you're out of kleenex, what can you do?

Wanna hear something amusing? Josh was all depressed a week ago because he was applying to all these places and couldn't even get a call back from Pizza Hut. Then, this Coca-cola job came up, and he felt better. I had said to him at the time, "You have to be patient. These positions haven't even closed yet!" But he didn't listen. He was determined to feel unwanted. Well..he got two job offers just yesterday. That's right. TWO. So...who was right? Oh, yeah. Me. If anything better than the come job comes up, he's going to take it, of course. So, unless you hear otherwise, these offers aren't enough to coax him out of his 40 hours plus overtime.

Josh is doing fine. He's trying to fit everything into his new "schedule", which is rough, but otherwise, things are going well. And the kids are fine, too. They've actually been playing nicely together lately, which is a huge relief to me. I hate refereeing and mediating and bossing all day and all night. Grant's kindergarten screening is on Friday. And the kids are going to spend the beginning of next week at my mom's house.

Well. I had better get moving. The sooner I go, the sooner I can be done for the day. Hope you are all healthy and happy. It's going to cool off today. Won't that be nice? Happy Wednesday!

Well!

Hi. I'm making stew. The idea was that it would rain, and I would make stew. Instead, I'll have to settle for the rain we got during the night, and a sky full of gray clouds. And stew.

Josh's interview was a success. He is now employed. He's going to sell cutlery for Vector Marketing and get paid by the appointment and buy his own expenses. And then he's going to do something else in July. We should hear one way or another from the police by mid June. He will either be offered a job by them, or he will find another one for himself.

He was sick with a fever yesterday, last night and this morning. He feels better now, and is working on a computer that his mother wants him to fix for some co-worker of hers.

I have flowers! I have crocuses under Abbie's window, and in the back yard, and under the mailbox. Even some purple ones. They were all supposed to be white and purple, but mostly, they are yellow. And there are little points all over, too. In fact, It would seem that I missed about 5 tulips when I was re-locating them to the back yard last year. Ooops. And the ones that I DID get moved seem to be healthy enough to come up. I checked for bud on the burning bushes in the front - they are fine. I didn't get to the redbuds in the back. My poor mutilated maple is about half living, and is going to look very odd after the pruning.

I didn't quite get the laundry folded.

No news from Josh's grandparents. I'm assuming all is well, or at least moderately so.

In similar news, a former taiko member is in the hospital with a broken wrist and a severe head injury and brain swelling. So very sad! Since I am the one who mentioned it, I have been put in charge of collecting money in order to send flowers to her. Little does Andrew know, I also mentioned trying to pull together some songs for a fundraising performance, say, in a park somewhere, and sending money to help offset the medical expenses. Several group members expressed interest, but I'm not sure what our limitations would be, since we are a non-profit organization.

Performance practice tonight. I am going with curly hair. I'm also very tired. Taking care of everybody all the time gets exhausting.

Well, I'd better go. I still have to make a salad and heat some bread if I want to actually have time to eat before I run away to practice.

Have a happy Tuesday (even though it isn't beautiful and sunny.)

Weather.

The snow plow just passed my house again. I haven't been counting, but maybe I should have been. It's snowing and snowing and snowing. It's the first wet snow of the year, and there is finally enough of it for the kids to get the first wish of their pre-school hearts: sledding tomorrow. But as for me, I wish for..... flowersflowersflowersflowersFLOWERS!!!! I want crocuses and violets and surprise lilies and peonies and hyacinth and Japanese iris. I want cherry blossoms and crab apples and plums and almond trees blooming!

Tylar, for your sake, I am glad of the snow. It makes me happy to know that you are happy.

Josh passed his latest police test. Background checks next. We are Superbowling at Chris's house, so I'd better make sure I have all my jambalaya ingredients on hand. When should I make it? Tomorrow? Tomorrow is looking busy. Sledding, shopping, dinner with Josh's family...

I want flowers. I wish I had reason to expect some at my own house. Last year all my bulbs in the front came up, but didn't bloom. I decided that the location wasn't sunny enough, so I moved them to the back. It's pretty dry there, so maybe they won't come up at all. You may not know this, but my yard is full of clay. Some orange, some grey, but no actual, real dirt. Just getting the grass to grow has been a hard battle, and very uphill.

*snort* Uphill. HEE HEEE!

Anyway.....my latest landscape dreams involve planters or barrels or old canoes...whatever will hold soil..positioned at the bottom of the hill on either side of the back gate. I would plant something that likes shade at the back, then some lovely peonies (white and pink ones) and bulbs in the front. I want a tiny vegetable garden for the kids, too. Maybe in the rarely used area by the basement windows. They could grow tomato plants and watermelon and maybe some herbs.

I have some serious cabin fever. Or maybe it's just winter fever. Something like that. I've been window shopping online for stuff I will probably never end up with. But you'll be glad to know that if I won the lottery tomorrow, I already have a selection of books, songs, and knit footwear just waiting for that magic moment.

Maybe I'll go shop flowers next.

My mother and aunt saw Jesus Christ Superstar in Rolla last night. Mom says it was much better than she ever had reason to expect. They were both impressed. My aunt made it home safe and sound this morning, so that is a good thing.

I'm about to make a pork tenderloin. It's pre-seasoned, so I hope it's good. There won't be much I can do about it, if it should prove to not be. And not to hurt the tenderloin's delicate feelings, but I am really wishing there were either a Japanese place down the road from here or a bowl of St. Louis Bread Company's baked potato soup waiting for me in my kitchen. Well, pork loin, corn, sliced potatoes and Sister Shubert rolls will just have to do.

Hope you are all safe, and roasty-toasty warm, despite this blizzardy weather.