Glimpses of a Week In My World

Some weeks make you want to jump up and down screaming excitedly. And some make you want to run screaming into the night. Most weeks end up with a little of both. So, let's not talk about the blown head gasket in the car I just put the transmission into. Or the broken AC and needed timing belt in the other car. The meltdown moments of heat and frustration. The bout of heat exhaustion because I was stupid enough to try to cut a path down to the river at mom's house in a 120 degree heat index. Andy's erratic behavior all week. Not shall we mention the fact that my courses for the fall disappeared from the college computer system and my department chair is out of town with a family emergency (and for a harrowing night, I thought I had been fired). No, let's set the screaming-into-the-night bits aside.

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This week in nature camp, Andy made a deer footprint and a boat, and re-connected with his classmate, S. Now, S's mom is one of those totally rockin' moms that steps right in to the thick of things and pitches. When the school had Math and Science night, and decided to send second graders in one direction and kindergardeners in another, she stepped right up and went with Andy and S while I had Joey and her second-grader son, M. I promptly lost M (we managed to track him down, but... how embarrassing!) but she was cool enough to not get bent out of shape. As far as I know. To continue to prove how rockin' she is, she actually came over one morning when we were picking up from camp and said, "hey, I'm sorry, I forgot your name, but I know you."

I have a lot of respect for people who do that, because I have a heck of a time remembering names. So I told her I was Joeymom, and then noted that I had no idea what her name was, either, and she told me it was Smom, and then said, "I've heard that you remember people's names better if you keep saying it. So, Hi Joeymom! How are you, Joeymom? We're so glad to see you, Joeymom!" And we spent the rest of the week calling each other by name every sentence. Guess what? It works!

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I signed Joey up for another round of swimming lessons. He has expressed interest in being a lifeguard and joining the swim team, and all the lifeguards now know him, so I cornered the one that gives lessons and got her to agree. For ten dollars, Joey get a half-hour of Red Cross-based swimming instruction and I get to write my silly little stories in my spiral-bound notebooks and not have to worry about him drowning or anything or half an hour. That's ten bucks well spent, I tell you. (I ravage Walmart this time of year for those 15-cent notebooks. The year they were five cents? I went CRAZY. And still ran out.) It went a lot better than I was expecting. The young lady, Miss K, did a great job holding his focus to the task and making her expectations clear, and demonstrating what she wanted him to do. I think a lot of folks have their kids do a couple of lessons and leave it; I've let Miss K know we're here for a while. My original thought was that it might take longer for him to process the lessons and b able to perform. Now Im just thinking he's loving the lesson and might get his form together enough to be on the swim team next year if he is so inclined. That rocks.

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We've seen a lot of our across-the-street-neighbor this week. We've had a lot of fun spoiling him- taking him to lunches, letting him jabber about anything he likes, dunking him the pool, and buying him Zhu Zhu pets. He's a funny little guy, hyper and bouncy like Andy. This has been a little bit on Joey's nerves, truth be told, because Joey doesn't handle lightning-fast play and bouncing very well. However, Andy is thrilled- mostly- to have a friend over so much. What a threesome!

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I have my fabric sorted into the quilt projects I want to work on. There's only... 8 of them. Not too bad. I do very utilitarian quilts- 6", 8", or 10" squares of fabrics, quilted down the gutters on my machine. By just doing big patches, I get to enjoy the fabrics, and have a lot less cutting and piecing to do. When I get a chance to do it at all. Um, I'll keep you posted.

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With it being 103 degrees and 120 heat index, I've been doing a lot of watering in the morning and the evening in the garden. My tomatoes have understandably stopped producing, and the lawn is crunchy. I got Grandmother's Rose mulched in today, in case we get any water falling form the sky or anything like that. ITs a great opportunity to mulch, because all the weeds I usually have got whacked down when I had the yard worked on, and its been too hot for them to grow in again. Of course, the problem is that it is also 103 degrees and 120 heat index. Not conducive to gardenwork.

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I have the room reserved. I have Luna's week at the Cat Spa (aka the Vet's Office) arranged. I am starting my lists of Things To Pack. This is Finals Week, so I won't have any grading to do, grades will be all turned in. Yes, it is time to start prepping for The Beach! Two weeks and counting down! (Um, how do I keep the fish alive for a week while we're gone?) I can hardly wait for a week of sand, sea, and boy squishing!