29 June 2017

So This Just Happened...

So my tooth just sensed that a holiday weekend was coming up, the dentist would be closed for the most part until next Wednesday... and then it figured: let's just be all dramatic and crumple up when she eats a potato chip. OH... and let's not make it one of those "can wait until later" things. Let's expose the nerve and make life interesting, so that everyone has to drop what they're doing and pay attention to me. Diva tooth!

25 June 2017

News From My House

Patrick is off at college and except for an occasional text, I don't hear from him.  I know he doesn't want to talk to me knowing that I will pester him to get his paperwork done for fall.  The kid ran off to college and is paying IN CASH (well, check!) for his classes and all that.  You knowww he's going to run out of money very soon at this rate.  Mom and Dad are not co-signing here, kiddo.  We will pay half but we can't co-sign $70,000 or whatever two years of college plus board and books would run ya.  Nope.  Nuh-uh.  Not happening.  (Yes, I worry.)

Our new swimsuits from UV Skins.  FINALLY I have "modest" sunburn prevention for both little kids.  Lookit my apples also.  There are zillions of them up in the tree... only thing is... the squirrels have figured out they are tasty.

In other news, Elf and Emperor both got their permits about a week apart!  Oh yeah, it's busy here.  D and I have taken these kids out driving several times and I really do wish everyone would just stay home while we're out on the road.  Even in the burby area near my local park, people were tailgating us and getting all upset that we weren't speeding about.  I think half the danger is from not intimately knowing all the knobs, buttons and controls and rules of the road... and the other half is everyone else getting all impatient and acting crazy.

Rose's hair is getting long!
Woodjie and Rose are getting more serious about roller skating.  I keep trying to take photos to show you but somehow the light is super crappy.  Anyway, we hope to compete (as in, with outfits and entry fees and everything) in October at some place about three hours away.  Going to be interesting.  TMI but I have learnt how a "cup" works now.  Basically?  It is spandex shorts now with a little envelope, you slide the plastic cup down the front and "adjust."  Now you know how it works, too - you are welcome.


18 June 2017

Happy Father's Day!

Long Island City, Queens, 1950.  My father is the twin on the right.  He remembers the hats as being yellow.  One great/ hard thing about being a twin in the Barron family was that they had to dress exactly alike until they were something like 13.  When one child got dirty, they were both required to change. 

04 June 2017

Trying a New Telephone

Patrick was not going to take the extra flip phone I had on hand with him to college.   He doesn't want to be responsible for it.  It might get lost or stolen.  Or whatever.  I was pretty frantic about it.  This isn't 1978 - it isn't as though you can find a pay phone around every corner.  What if something happened?  There would be no way to get in touch with him.

Patrick wasn't worried about it.  D didn't care - he figured he'll just borrow a phone from a friend.  I'm thinking by that line of reasoning, let's send him off with no tuition money or food.  Friends can help out!  Maybe he can just live in a tent on the campus lawn and save dorm costs, too!  Sigh.

Ok, so what if something happened to you or you needed help?  How would I know?  Well, he reasoned, you would recognise my dead body on the news, right?

Way to make poor old Mom feel ok about sending you off to school, tell ya what.  Thanks for that.  Please just take the phone.  Ughh... finally he agreed just to bring it and leave it in his dorm room.  At least if there were some emergency I would be able to get in touch with him at some point.  Maybe.

Our current phone plan allows for three cell phones, which means that with me, D and Patrick each taking a phone, the teens would have no way to contact me if I dropped them off somewhere.  To get another (crappy, no texting or internet) phone we'd have to buy some clonky thing and pay $200/ month.  Ehm... no.  I've signed up with Cricket so now we have five phones for $100/ month.  And I got the phones free. 

But they're new phones.  We don't really know how to use them.  They take photographs and give you the weather forecast. One can even text and (presumably) take nude selfies to send to all of one's friends or random strangers perhaps.

If you do get some odd message with no boobs or butt photo attached, you know it's the newbie here on the texting machine.  Wish me luck!

01 June 2017

Moving Day

So Patrick is moving soon to the university.  I will only have four children left at home - or five, because he'll be back intermittently... but it won't be the same! 

Emperor, Patrick, Elf and G, 2004.
The last several weeks have been about putting old books he never uses and various childhood memories into boxes, packing up his LEGOs (which he never uses but he's not wanting to get rid of, ever) and going through stacks and stacks of paper.  This guy has kept college fliers from 2010.  Time to let it go! 

At this particular college, you have NO IDEA which room you'll get until you arrive.  Classes?  Bah.  You can't sign up for classes until the very week before they begin.  Meal plan?  Oh... that begins right when classes do.  So you'll arrive but I guess you pay cash or starve until classes begin.

It's a big ol' place so I don't understand why they're running this as though one guy in the main office has to hand sort everything for 5,000 students.

Anyway, so much dust has been stirred up and sooo many things have been packed for transport that it's ridiculous.  You'd think the kid just had three childhood toys, a laptop and some clothes but nope.  You realise how much stuff has just been sitting around the house that belongs to him.  I am sure I will find bunches of stuff and just have to leave it in a pile for his return.

The "kid" is nearly 24 so it's time for him to go do this.  I am exactly that parent that thought I would never eeeeverrr have an adult child in my basement but here we are.  And he has a couple of years to get through school and a bit of job-hunting to do after.  Late start I guess but at least he's starting?

Prayers and good wishes always appreciated.

My Bible Adventure Review

Pack this little book in your purse.  Instead of the Ipad, read this to your kiddo in the waiting room or bring it to church to occupy him during the sermon.  My Bible Adventure Through God's Word by Tommy Nelson is just the perfect size for little ones to tote about in one of those little Bible carriers, too.

It's hard-bound and 334 pages long!  Don't let that overwhelm you, though.  The type is larger - I'm going to guess about 14 point type - and there are plenty, plenty of engaging but simple illustrations.  The cover is pretty representative of what you get inside.

If I had to classify it, I'd say it is a small treasury of well-known Bible stories with a bit of commentary for smaller children.  I would use this as a devotional to read aloud to a younger child.  Children who can read on their own will be able to read almost all the words when they're at a second grade level or so.  Cute stuff!

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookLook Bloggers book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Bringing Garbage Home

Some people up the street were throwing this table away. It was in pretty bad shape and one of the legs was off. I've glued the leg back...