Dear Someone

Dear Criminal Minds,

Why am I obsessed with watching repeats of your show? Sure, I’m finding plenty of episodes that I missed during their original airing but there are PLENTY of productive other things I should be doing instead of plopping myself on the couch. Oh, wait, now I remember why I’m glued to the TV…
Signed,
Oh my...

Dear Self,

It’s been a long week: allergies, bronchitis and a yucky reaction to medication. Fun times! Here’s hoping for a quiet couple of days...

Signed,
Cough Sniffle Cough


Dear Laundry,

I’m bored with you these days.

Signed,
Mag

Dear Bug,

I don’t know why but I’m enjoying that you want to call me Tin Tin lately.

Love,

Mommy Tin Tin


Visit Shortmama for more.

Warming up and a winner

He's a little bit Jewish and I'm a little bit Catholic so our house is beginning to look a lot like Christmukkah. I'm finally getting out our decorations (other than the new menorah that we've been lighting) and trying to make the house festive. Bug did his part by sporting a Santa cap although as the day goes on and I untangling Christmas lights or trying to remember when I put something from last year I feel like I'm playing Scrooge while trying to be cheerful. Ho ho humbug.


I had a good trip to SD and am still amazed that I didn't get stranded in Minneapolis for a day. Those first few blasts of cold air upon leaving the airport are rough. It was 1 degree when I arrived and the windchill was minus 16 or 20 (does it really make a difference if you have to say "minus" before the number--it's all just cold, right?). I was convinced I wouldn't have feeling in my toes until I returned to DC. It was so cold that we decided my mom shouldn't go outside. Mom wasn't happy but after hearing the temps a few times she agreed she would stay put.


Thursday and Friday mornings I did some holiday shopping for Mom and finished everyone on her list. We spent the afternoons wrapping presents in her room. On Friday there was a heatwave break and the afternoon temp hit 20 so Mom and I went to the mall. We were there for four hours and only hit two stores. She was thrilled. We had dinner at the food court (Taco John's anyone?! Yum!) and by then she was exhausted. It takes us a bit of time to adjust to the wheelchair, getting in/out of the car and I always feel like we're channeling Lucy and Ethel with some of our movements but we manage.


While I was back I got to see several people I knew. I had a lunch with four classmates while Mom had physical therapy. (One of them even visited my mom--how nice is that? Of course, it was Russ and he's pretty much the definition of a good guy.) While we were at lunch, I saw my cousin and his family then ran into other people from my hometown. (Everyone in my hometown goes to the town where my mom now lives to shop because it has the nearest mall [42 miles away] so it's not uncommon to see people you know.)


There's something very comforting being back there. Of course I get to spend time with Mom and see my brother and his family (and drink wine with my sister-in-law!). These trips are so different from past visits now that Mom is in the nursing home but it's great to be there for/with her and nice to see friendly faces and have people ask about Mom or stop by to visit her. Many of them know her from their childhoods. It's true there's no place like home...and no matter how cold it gets the hearts are always warm.


Dee from Two of a Kind, Working on a Full House is the Santa cake pan winner. Happy baking, Dee! Email me and let me know where I should send it.

Bulldozers, Dump Trucks and Dirt...oh my

Have I mentioned there's been construction on our street for eleven months? Wait, I'll repeat that...ELEVEN MONTHS. The street is currently down to one lane--one way, obviously. I've seen school buses, delivery trucks and police cars driving on the street in the wrong direction. (And, nope, the police cars weren't in hot pursuit or even flashing their lights.)

We can't park on our street or use our driveway. Okay, I'm exaggerating...we can get into our driveway but something was ripped from the bottom of our car the last time we did it it's not a smart move these days.

Of course Bug loves it because there are dump trucks, bulldozers, jackhammers and mounds of dirt everywhere. Last week we had to have a pic-i-nic in our front yard to watch the activity.

Today--we have no water. (I'm REALLY hoping that's a short-term thing.)

Okay, onto other things. I wanted to be fancy and share the JK Wedding Entrance Dance that I saw on Learning to Love Life in Tiny Town but after trying 248 a few times I gave up. So if you haven't seen it yet...click above, sit back and maybe dance a little bit.

Perspective

Our carpet is dry/fixed so now the basement is a family room again. It took longer than planned because the day we were to have the new padding installed there was another storm and MORE water in the basement. Ugh.

As I was getting things (somewhat) back in place yesterday I started thinking of all the things we could/should do to the area to make it a better hanging out room...new paint would be a good start, less junk, get rid of some of Bug's toys that he's no longer interested in, donate some of the books to a hospital or library, etc.

Today was the first day for Bug to go downstairs since it's his playroom again. We were walking downstairs to play and as he got to the step where he could see the room he exclaimed, "it's PERFECT."

So, I decided to play rather than plan.

Hey, wanna go boating?

Come on over to our basement.

You think I would have noticed that a good chunk of carpet is soaked:

when I got on the treadmill--in the basement

or when I did three loads of laundry--in the basement

or when I worked on the computer for four hours--in the basement

or, um, when I was breathing. Really, how bad is my sense of smell that I didn't notice that damp odor in our basement? Luckily, when Donnie came home from work he pointed it out.

In my search for the positive side, I'm hoping the heavy rains from this week have washed away all traces of spring allergies. It's only fair...if Memorial Day is the unofficial start of summer that means I can kiss my allergies good-bye until fall, right? As beautiful as spring is, it can be tough. It's so bad to be cursing all the lovely blooms but when I feel my head pounding and see cars coated in pollen, the swearing begins.

No one is safe from seasonal allergies in our house. Donnie and Bug both have them. Even Clara has them. Bug gets a (fairly) mild rash and Clara is forced to stay awake longer than an hour a day to lick her paws nonstop. At times Bug and Clara have been on the same meds (although Bug's isn't bacon scented but oh, he would love that!).

The carpet people are coming today. Now, if only I could find a pediatric veterinarian for Bug and Clara...