Mothers' Day and other knick knacks

What did we do? Starting five minutes ago: A bug flew in the back of my throat while we were taking a Mother's Day walk. I can't walk with little boys and keep my mouth shut.

"Leave the dead baby bunny alone. Yes, it's cute and sad. Leave it alone. Barking at that dog is gonna make him mad. Are you seriously pretending to pee on the fire hydrant? Yes, I see they're home. We really don't have time to drop in to chat with the people you sold that thing that time. Come on, hurry we gotta get home for some water so I can wash this stupid bug down."

 (coff coff coff hack hack)

 The boys got a snail (The Dude) and a guppy Saturday to be friends with Walter (the goldfish) but poor Donnie did not make it thru the night. I guess it was a self fulfilling prophesy.

I made the doggie some blankies to put on the couch so she has her own instead of my blue one (which really is nice, not that I mind sharing, but I can see the future and it involves poo.)

I couldn't find the "good scissors" to make the blankie but I could find all of these:

The Good Scissors would just leap into my hand if I was a little kid needing to cut up some cardboard for a fort, or maybe some wires or tin. Too bad. I'm an adult wanting to cut fabric. The Good Scissors are in hiding.

This made me smile. It was a picture of a guy and a hippo but I cropped the guy out and made the hippo look like a painting. So I might paint it.

J. brought me some Pho so I had that Saturday afternoon. Yum. The broth is so fragrant. I made pancakes Saturday morning but I hated them. They were large and thin and tasty but they took way too long.

On Friday I collected an extra boy along the way. His socks were stinky so I took 'em. I thought they'd wash but it was futile so we just gave him some of ours. On Friday night I made a double batch of the Smores Chocolate Chip cookies. They were so popular at the School Open House the other day so since I really could see myself eating all those myself, I sent some to my neighbor and my son's girlfriend's mom. Then I pretty much ate the rest. Well the kids had some.

The neighborhood birds have gone back to their hobby of standing on the deck railing and then flying up to the open window on the west side of the house. They levitate there and screech at the cat as she plaintively attempts to speak their birdy language. Then they all (birds and cat) go to the east side of the house and do the exact same thing through the other open window. I tried to get some photos of this. Every time I see a bird though, it sees me too and flies off. Evidently they're willing to scrawch at a cat behind a screen but not if she's backed up by a human. 

I tried to read The Adventures of Tom Sawyer on Friday but it is sort of difficult to get into that book. The language, plus the scenes he sets up are a little hard to stomach. Like when the Aunt says to herself all that junk about how she feels about raising Tom and how he gets into trouble and then she laughs softly to herself. Puke. Nobody really ever talked like that. Maybe they did. 

I love going back to my Facebook status to get junk to blog about. For example, this status was a blog entry unto itself. That was my Thursday. There was more involved, like a kid who left the carnival and went to a friend's house even though I told him no, but sometimes I don't aire all the dirty laundry on FB. Right? I'm friends with some of their teachers. Best not to let them know ALL the little messy details. Just the majority. I was feeling sort of overwhelmed.

5:45 - woke up, got ready, dropped boys at JES and EHS, put gas in car, got to WHS practically on time, 7:38, 7 grueling hours of sitting on rear in freezing cold band room (I'd rather walk around but didn't have actual class) finished the end of Below Stairs, started and finished Prince Caspian in less than 5 hours (except it's the book I had when I was little so the last few pages had fallen out.) Spent last 2 hours sitting in doorway to outside, so I wouldn't freeze to the chair. This was a beautiful day. Part of that time was spent sitting on the cement step and something bit my leg so that's annoying. Something always bites me! 2:55 Drove back across town after school, picked up boys at JES, came back home, finished pulled pork and caramelized the onions, weighed it, about 11 lbs. Packed it all up, 5:50 stood around in a daze trying to remember how to do all this, drove back to JES, snuck the packed up pork and slow cooker to the teacher lounge through the talent show at the carnival which was in the doorway to the school. Stood around and wasn't much help at the carnival (I'm better at cleaning up) left at 6:45 to go back home. The plan was to bring the oldest son to the band concert. Helped him get dressed. Drove to EHS, 7:15 dropped off boy and girl. Drank caffeinated beverage. Drove back to JES. Carried things from one place to another. Helped clean up. Found my children. 8:something. Drove to EHS, caught last five seconds (literally) of oldest son's Spring band performance. Sat down. Watched end of year band kid slide show. Saw a friend. Caught up with her & tagged along as she did band related stuff. Boys and I walked her & her coolers to her car. Drove to WalMart. Got rolls (for pulled pork) to deliver tomorrow early when I drop boys off. Came back home. Unloaded groceries, started dish washer, did load of laundry. It's midnight. It's Friday. it's almost summer.

Also my nasty old freakazoid neighbor was mean to me last week.

I was standing in my own large, grassy yard, and watched the older neighbor man drive up the street. I stepped inside for a second. I walked back out (to my own yard, did I mention that?) and he came up to me and said "Don't walk the dog in my yard!" So I said, "I didn't, sir. I would never do that. Notice the poop is here in my yard?" He argued back and forth with me, then pointed to the other side of his yard & said "I saw you walk across my yard! You lie like a rug!"

The only time I have ever even gone up on their porch was the time I found him lying passed out in the snow. He fell on the ice in his back yard and I ran over to tell his wife to call 911.

Other than that it was a fun day though! We went to a friend's house while we were on our way someplace to eat and stood around talking to him, then we went and had Pho. Well I had Pho. J. had that thing with the noodles and the slices of fried spring roll. The friend has a great dog so we put her in the truck too and she rode around with us with her ears flapping in the wind.

Also I took this picture: 

Hmm. That was pretty much my week. Except I "taught" choir on Monday. Which was pretty much a big fat nothing. I read a lot of The Dove Keepers. Most of the kids and the other choir teacher went outside for two of the periods and I stayed in with the ones who wanted to be inside. Then for last hour I went out too and I played a version of Musical Chairs which does not involve music. There is a circle of chairs with seated people, plus one person standing in the middle. The person in the middle states "I never ______________" and everybody who has done that has to move at least two chairs one way or the other in the circle. I wasn't playing till a kid said "I never was a substitute teacher!" so I had to go in the middle because I was the only one who ever was. So then I couldn't think of anything. Of course. But it was a cute game.