A This Bug's Life

There are horse stables about five minutes from our house and Bug went on his first pony ride a couple of weeks ago. Wait, let me correct that...Bug went on his first HORSE ride...he refused to call Scooby a pony because ponies are the "rides" outside diners and grocery stores that require 50 cents for one minute of fun. My mistake. Here are Bug and Scooby...


Gymnastics class is over and we're pretty convinced this will be Bug's only medal in the sport.

Inching closer to the weekend...have a good one.

don't stop and smell the flowers

The convention is over and life is almost back to normal. What I didn't count on was that all three of us would be under the weather while the convention was going on. It looks like we're a family of allergies. Stock in Benadryl, anyone?! Spring is lovely in DC but outdoor allergies have been nasty this year. I just wish The Little Girl made a better nurse (have I ever mentioned that's what Bug calls our pooch?). Of course she has allergies, too, we're a pathetic bunch...

Bug went to the doctor yesterday because his cough was keeping him and us awake and we thought we should have it checked. For a little guy he had a tough bark. In Bug's words, he was "broken." Sure enough we were sent home with an inhaler. A big BIG thank you to the lovely nurse who showed him/taught us how to use it. She was terrific and explained it in such a fun way that Bug couldn't wait to get his own and try it at home. He was so excited to give the pharmacist the prescription he asked me to dance with him while in CVS.

For now our house looks like a mega-medicine cabinet but soon (VERY soon, right?) these allergies will pass and life really will be back to normal.

Good news of the day...the pizzeria IN MY BUILDING opened this week so I grabbed a slice for lunch! Also, the front desk was giving out candy bars to everyone in the building for participating in the fire drill today. Too bad Thank goodness I haven't lost my appetite (heh).

one (day) down...three to go

I'm in convention mode. Day one is officially behind me. I miss you all but will catch up on Thursday (or Friday) of this week. Yawn...so sad that after one day I'm already tired. Big hugs to you all...

swapped and scored

I joined up with Shortmama's spring swap. B from The Nabors Baby was my partner. She was kind to mail the package via priority mail but apparently the postal service saw the "P" in priority and thought it was pony express because it took more than TEN days to reach me. Sigh...


But...all good things are worth the wait. Look what I received:

How did B know that a couple of weeks ago I told Bug we needed to get a bird feeder so we could watch the birds in our yard? Also, I keep a journal of some sort with me 99% of the time...and now I have a new one for my purse...and I have very cool pens! (I had to wrestle them away from Bug this morning...ALL pen/paper products should be his, who knew?) I love dips and there's a cheesy bacon dip to make (wanna come over and share it with me?). There's a travel book for Bug (again...how did she know that we're planning to drive 8 plus hours to Boston in a couple of weeks?). I also got a set of lotion, hand scrub and body wash (fabulous!), bandannas (fun), water bottle (perfect to take with me on bike rides) and pecans (I LOVE pecans!) and a really, really cool lunch bag that I packed up my lunch in today. Thank you, B!

Random Tuesday Thoughts

Is it just me or are the birds chirping earlier and louder this year? I think they’re awake before the roosters (not that we have any roosters near us…but 4:00 - 4:30 is plenty early to be awakened by birds.)

Bug is obsessed with band-aids these days and at any given time he could have seven from his ankle to his knee, one on every finger and even a few on Winnie-the-Pooh’s ears.

It shouldn’t have been a surprise that I walked around the office for two hours before someone pointed out that I had a Spiderman band-aid stuck on my skirt—on my butt. Catch phrase of the day: “Spiderman, my ASSSSS.” It works in many situations.

When Bug goes to bed, he often asks Donnie or me to lie down with him for a few minutes. His line is, “I want a friend to sleep with me.” It sounds like such a pathetic pickup line each time I hear it.

Right before our convention I always seem to have some bizarre dreams. I’ll spare you the details but it involved: a run-in in NY with gangsters, a parking garage with a winding exit that landed me in Maryland, a 1970s police-ish car that I was a passenger in until my friend jumped out and I had to drive only then remembering I can’t drive a stick shift and seeing a friend with her new haircut that changed her hair to fettuccine. Maybe having birds wake me at 4am isn’t so bad.


Go to The Un Mom for more.

what makes me smile RIGHT NOW

This:

I treated myself to the mama necklace from ripegoods. I had been eyeing it for quite awhile. It became my happy place when I needed a break in the day. I would go to the site and window shop (or is it screen shop when you browse online or because I'm on a PC is it "windows" shop? Whatever...). I bonded with this necklace before I ever touched it. I knew it was just a matter of time before I was wearing it. I ordered it and it arrived earlier this week. I love it and am now planning my outfits around it. Thank you, ripegoods!


And I heard you can get a free blizzard at the Dairy Queen today because it's Tax Day. Talk about a happy place! Unfortunately, I didn't get there at lunchtime (it means going to Maryland or Virginia for the closest one) but depending on the evening maybe we'll make it an adventure tonight.


The Minnesota Twins opened in their new stadium, Target Field, this week. I love the Twins and I love Target so the combination is beautiful to me! Go Twins! If you were here with me I could and probably would sing the Twins song to you (be thankful you're not subjected to this). However, that little song calmed Bug many times when he was a baby.

Long ago when I lived in Minneapolis, the Twins were in the playoffs. I sang the Twins song on the radio...while in a bar on my way to the game AND I identified myself on the air (I can't sing so why I used my real name is still a mystery...oh right, I was 23 and drinking beer!) Anyway, the next day some people from my hometown (in South Dakota!) called me and wanted to know if I could get them playoff tickets. Good grief...it never occurred to me people were actually listening to the radio--or that it was really broadcast in conjunction with the game--let alone people who knew me. I'm sure the station lost some listeners after that.

Law and Order & my neighbors

I was watching some version of Law and Order a few nights ago and it reminded me of this...


When I lived in CA, I had a place less than a block from the beach and a really great tan. My apartment was a garden apartment with seven units. As a group we weren't close but knew each other and chatted often enough. It was an interesting mix of people that came and went during my three years at the apartment.


Some of us were single in our 20s/30s...on one side my next door neighbor was a huge partier and once I woke up to bloody hand prints on my door and outside wall because one of his friends cut himself and pounded on my door thinking it was Pete's unit (oddly enough I knew it had to be one of Pete's friends and wasn't alarmed by the late-night pounding). Pete was an incredible cook and when I had knee surgery and was laid up for two weeks he made dinners and brought them to me. One upstairs neighbor was a bitter woman who taught kids on movie/tv sets and did her aerobics at 6am on Saturdays. When I asked if she could do her exercises later because the constant pounding on my ceiling woke me, she assured me I was already awake. Huh? She also moved out at midnight to avoid paying rent for the previous month. Another neighbor (although for a short time) trained the dogs for the K-9 police unit. There was a 35-year-old grandmother, a quiet older man (he moved away rather quickly), a couple from Texas, a shy guy with a motorcycle and a 25-year-old who desperately wanted to date the grandmother. We sometimes got together on the deck and had group dinners.


A couple moved into the apartment on the other side of me and they were a bit more reserved than the rest of the group--more loners. The woman introduced herself but I never knew the name of her boyfriend/husband/lover/creepy companion. Sometimes I would greet Christine but the b/h/l/cc would quickly tell Christine to get inside or pull her away. Needless to say I didn't really care for him but I rarely saw him. I do recall after the MLK earthquake that the tenants stood outside chatting and he showed up opening a beer at 5am--that's not relevant to the story--just something that's clear in my memory when I think about the earthquake.


(Honestly, I'm getting to the part that reminded me of Law & Order.) One night I was home and walked the 15 feet or so from my unit to the laundry room. In the time it took me to put the quarters in the machine, add the detergent and toss my clothes in the washer, police showed up next door. As I nearly ran peeing my pants calmly walked from the laundry room to my apartment, I saw three policemen standing at my neighbors' open door with guns aimed inside. I also saw that the neighbor who I thought was creepy and not so nice to Christine had a tripod of guns in the middle of his living room. I quickly scooted into my apartment and expected to hear a shoot-out. I never saw either one of them again.


After they moved out (or went to jail, who knows?), I heard that there was a time Creepy Companion held Christine hostage in the apartment and took all of her clothes so she wouldn't/couldn't leave while he was away. She escaped through a window and ran naked to one of the homes on our street but Creepy Companion arrived home, saw her running and chased after her.


Cue the Law & Order music...

ʎɐpuoɯ s,ʇı

˙˙˙buıןǝǝɟ ɯ,ı ʍoɥ sı sıɥʇ puɐ

It's a busy time. We're getting ready for our convention at work and this bumper sticker seems to sum it up:

things that make me smile today

Having a bag of Cadbury Mini Eggs on my desk!


Bug has ONE bookcase in his room and when he wants to read a book he "invites me to join him" in his library.


The three new books I ordered arrived today.


Believing Hoping that having a salad for lunch will cancel out the bag of Cadbury Mini Eggs that is now nearly empty on my desk.

We survived the Easter Egg Roll at the White House on Monday. We were three of 10,000 people entering at the 1:45 time slot. Surprisingly, it went so much smoother than I expected. Highlights for Bug: seeing Elmo on stage (I've got a photo of Elmo on the big screen with the Washington Monument in the background) and talking to SEVERAL police officers. A big thank you to the kind officer who turned on the lights and siren for Bug and them let him sit in the police car.

Ordering my favorite "production tee" baby gift for two friends.

Tomorrow is Hershey! (Hershey manufactures Cadbury...my fingers are crossed that there are Easter markdowns.) There's talk of stopping at the outlets on the drive home...fingers crossed for that, too!

Saying Goodbye

I wasn't ready to say goodbye (but when are we really ready?). I knew it would happen and I knew it was coming...I just didn't want expect it to happen NOW. It appears Bug's naps are a thing of the past. sniff sniff

**Edited to add**

In place of naptime this weekend I announced it was "quiet time," which I learned in Bug-speak translated to doing gymnastics in his room and emptying ALL the books from his bookshelf with periodic shouts of "I can't sweep." It's a work in progress (work being the keyword).

F-Bomb Friday

This is what happened last night. Donnie and I asked Liz to babysit (she's a live-in nanny for our next door neighbors). The family is traveling for spring break and Liz often babysits for us. So...Donnie and I went out for an early dinner. We were at my favorite Mexican restaurant having yummy food and drinks and not having to keep Bug quiet or occupied at the table...a real date!


We planned to put Bug to bed so we arrived home at 7:50. We chatted with Liz until a little after 8pm and she walked next door. About ten minutes later I heard a conversation outside our house so I peeked out the window. There was Liz talking to a policeman and two police cars blocking the driveway.


I was already in my jammies (I'm a girl who LOVES comfy!) but opened to door to call out and see if Liz was okay. She said that someone tried to break into the house. I went outside and was told that someone entered their screened porch then broke a window panel in their dining room door. The alarm went off so they thought the person/people ran away.


Liz entered the house (obviously not knowing any of this) and went to finish laundry then noticed a message so she listened to the alarm company's message that the alarm had gone off. The police arrived and at one point there were SEVEN police cars at the house. No officers entered the home until the police dogs arrived and did a search. (Of course Bug is fascinated by all of this and kept telling all the neighbors who came to find out what was happening that it was a 'mergency.)


Nothing was taken, the police believe the alarm sound scared the burglar(s) away. Just as the police were talking about the increased break-ins in our neighborhood, there was a call that a house was broken into two blocks away and most of the police took off like a scene from a crime show. There have been so many break-ins lately that there was a report on the news about it.


I'm so happy that Liz is okay and nothing was taken from the house but it's all a bit unnerving. Liz stayed at our house last night so she wouldn't be alone at the house and the offer to come back is there (although Bug had a rough night so she might welcome the quiet at her own place). We're hoping the rest of the weekend is less eventful for the neighborhood.


For more F-bombs visit MiMi at Living in France.