I didn’t die. I’m still here.
Today is Friday the 13th. I’m not superstitious. Not really. Ok maybe a little. It IS raining today.
I think maybe my Friday the 13th might have actually started yesterday. It’s what I call a “Charlie Brown” kind of day. Perhaps I have mentioned those on here before. It’s when everything you touch gets ruined! We had one corelle cereal bowl and one wineglass break all over the kitchen floor. Add the kamikaze bottle of Catalina dressing that jumped out of the refrigerator as I was trying to fill my water bottle. The lid broke-there was red dressing EVERYWHERE! They do call it the “everything” dressing-but I don’t think the floor was in that category.
On top of that, my son almost missed t-ball because I was distracted by my husband’s extraction. (See what I did there?) He had THREE teeth pulled. You know it hurts when my dear husband is taking painkillers. He has some sort of strange belief that you should be tough and endure the pain. Needless to say, he has been pretty floaty.
Meanwhile I am enjoying some of the perks of not working. I never admitted to being Happy Susie Homemaker, but I’ve actually done a decent job of getting my house to the point of if someone were to actually want to come to our house that I think they wouldn’t throw up at the sight of it. Obviously the kitchen floor isn’t part of that-I’m hoping to get it to the point that my shoes don’t stick slightly to the floor where the dressing was. It’s amazing what you get done in your house when you have the time.
And then we have the “Mom I’m Bored” summer crisis. My children are not normal children. Or maybe they are normal modern day children. Not sure there. My daughter apparently was maliciously attacked by a fly at some point earlier this summer. She’s terrified. I don’t mean she gets a little upset when a “buggy” (as she calls them) comes around. No, instead, we get the ear splitting breaking the sound barrier windows are going to break scream every time she spies any sort of insect or arachnid. I’m sure the neighbors think we’re torturing her. It’s to the point that she will barely play outside, and when I am actually able to get her out there she tries to use my body as a shield. Not cool. She doesn’t understand why I don’t use my Mom superpowers for good-somehow I am supposed to go out there and somehow eradicate every insect in the yard.
Then there is my son-he would rather sit on the couch and stare at a blank tv than do ANYTHING else. Playing outside is something he rarely wants to do unless there is water involved. Otherwise the best we can muster is letting him bring his stack of books outside and let him read them at the table on the deck. He does that while my daughter clings to me for dear life because a bug might get her.
I’ve tried to at least give them some reasons to want to stay outside (without screaming). We have a pool. The top is deflated (slow leak-can’t find it) and the water turns green after a day because it’s been so hot. I bought two different sprinkler heads at Kmart-one that rotates around and one that is a circle with holes in it. I was really proud of that-most of the kids sprinklers are at least $10 and the two together cost around $7. My son is scared of the one that goes around-he says he gets water in his eyes. My daughter wants the “spinny” sprinkler every time, because she likes the power of trying to stop it from going around. Earlier this week I made them sit out there until they compromised on which one they wanted to use. Luckily my son figured out that if he put something on his face that would take care of the water issue (mini scientist that he is). Since then he has run through the sprinklers wearing either safety glasses, his mask without the snorkel, or swim goggles. It’s kind of funny, really. And apparently the bugs must leave my daughter alone while the sprinkler is on.
And then there were the homemade bubbles. We tried to make them. I found a recipe online for the “World’s Greatest Bubbles” and tried it. There are great recipes for them online but many use glycerin. My aunt swears by it, so do many other people but I could not find glycerin anywhere I went. And I went EVERYWHERE. So we used good old fashioned corn syrup (same idea, right?) We even shelled out the money for the neat looking sun tea jar as mentioned on Pinterest. What we learned from this: 1) The bubbles have to sit overnight or they don’t work as well as you would like. 2) Do not let toddlers come over to try the bubbles, they will eat them 3) Don’t try to pick up the jar full of bubbles and move it without checking that the lid is on securely on. What happened? The jar fell and the part where the bubbles come out broke off. My garage never has been so clean. We are going to try the bubbles again now that Wal-mart has the jars on clearance-I got one for $2. I just need to get off of my butt and make the solution.
I tried to add the link to where I found the recipe because I think the girl that does it does a beautiful job on her site, but I sure can’t find where it is, so I’ll copy and paste: http://ashleyannphotography.com/blog/2010/05/06/diy-the-worlds-best-bubbles/
We have some other random things, such as tie-dying, that I just need to get them excited enough to go out and do it.
I came to the realization that hey, school starts in almost exactly one month… We go back REALLY early here in corn country. My kids may not realize it but they should be having a ball. It will be over before they know it. Poor poor tormented children whose mother won’t let them sit in front of the tv…
The Sadder But Wiser Girl 