Draft 2018

It was the NFL Draft over the weekend.  I'm sad to admit that this year I only devoted passing attention to the spectacle.  On Thursday we were driving and I arrive at my destination just as it was starting, we were working at the new house which only has an antennae for TV and it has a weak signal and both Calvin and I ended up at the doctor's office on Saturday morning because I knew I had a sinus infection that was making even my teeth hurt and Calvin was constantly crying and arching his back in pain and it was discovered that he has an ear infection.

I was pretty excited for Saturday because the Tampa Bay Buccaneers had plans to have their real live parrot mascot read their draft pick.  Oh yeah. This is the rounds 4-7 foolishness that I love. The macaw's name is Zsa Zsa and she's one nice looking parrot.  I like the ones with yellow as their main color.




How does one become a parrot handler at an exotic bird sanctuary anyway?  Also, doesn't this picture remind you of another often re-shared photo...of me?



Mexico, 2008...that was a fun time.  Something interesting about this picture is a friend of mine went on a cruise this winter and she posted pictures on FB of her 5 year old holding parrots in front of this same exact background in the same mall.  I REALLY hope those poor birds haven't been spending the last ten years in a mall being held by tourists.  Maybe they get rotated from a sanctuary where they return every day.  HOPEFULLY.

Well, back to the draft...I walked in the door with Calvin after our doctor and pharmacy run just in time to see the Bucs fourth round pic. This was the scene.



Then...the pirate woman bird handler read the pick. NOT THE BIRD! Well, it turns out the parrot wouldn't cooperate.  Poor bird.  Guess she got stage fright.  In case you were wondering, because I was too buy watching the parrot to listen, the pick was Jordan Whitehead from University of  Pittsburgh.  I had trouble finding him because the google searches all involved the parrot's failure to repeat the name.



He's a safety with "character issues" which his college coaching staff has been kind enough to keep secret even though he was suspended for three games last year.  His hands are 8 1/2 inches wide and he's 198 pounds in case you were wondering. Best wishes to him anyway!  Everyone makes mistakes (as long as this doesn't involve some type of sexual assault.  I'm so over people excusing that).

The Milestones Keep Coming

Does everyone remember when they lost their first tooth? I was in Kindergarten in Wyoming and it happened in the middle of the school day.  I was pretty young and apparently I was one of the first kids in the class to lose a tooth (redshirting wasn't really a thing yet back then except for the boys with the latest summer birthdays) because everyone really got excited.  I didn't really understand what was going on because losing teeth wasn't really the talk of the class yet so my mom was even surprised when I got home. I hadn't mentioned that it was loose.

Times have changed and kids in Ben's preschool class were losing teeth already last year.  He has had a few "wishful thinking" loose teeth that weren't actually loose but he was still waiting.  On Wednesday he came home from school with an actual loose tooth.  He said he used his teeth to pull his soggy wet glove off his hand and that's when it became loose.  I don't use my teeth for many activities besides chewing so this makes me cringe.  He wouldn't leave it alone and by the time he went to sleep it was really loose.  I had a feeling he would come home with a gap and I was right.

He said before lunch a boy in his class told him to pull it out so he did.  Hmmm OK.  I admire this audacity.  I was always afraid to pull and mine would practically hang out of my mouth.  Once my mom pulled one out by tricking me and saying she was just looking at it and I didn't even know she did it.  

So, next up-the Tooth Fairy.  This is another one of those plot hole filled magical legends that is really hard for me to play along with because it's just so ridiculous.  But might as well enjoy the childhood lack of logic while it last, right?  Too late, I thought it would be pretty cool to leave one of those golden $1 coins with Sakajawea on them.  I know I have some because I got a bunch for high school graduation. But, I have no idea where they are and Justin has some too but he also doesn't know where they are.  They are packed away with our de-cluttered clutter.  It's been almost a year since I saw it.  Not looking forward to getting reacquainted.  

I really felt like I should do something cute since it's his first one so I went on Pinterest and immediately facepalmed.  Too...much...magic...decorative tooth boxes, glitter thrown around...no thank you.  But I did see some fun paper folding techniques for folding money.  There was a really cool fighter jet that looked like a more complicated version of a paper airplane.  But...my one dollar that I could find was so wrinkly it just looked terrible so I ended up making a normal paper airplane.  

Special, isn't it?  I can't believe I almost didn't even have a $1 bill for this purpose and I didn't figure it out until 9 p.m.  That was a close one.  I suppose a handful of coins would have been OK too...

The New Neighborhood Hero

I've been really absent on the old blog lately.  I think about things I want to post often but it's just really crazy right now.  Calvin has not adopted a nap schedule yet and instead he sleeps for short intervals which barely allow me to get anything done and the blog is the least necessary thing.  He's been fussy and I realized last week that he was getting a tooth.  Well that explains so much!  I noticed a day before he turned four months old which is around when Tessa got teeth.  Ben was six months old and Milo...ummm...maybe he was between four-ish and six-ish months...sometime in there...

Also, on Friday we got our new house!  I am still living in our old one with the kids while Justin works on the new one after work every night.  We spent the weekend there and I have multitudes of ideas to post about.  This blog is about to go back to it's roots almost nine years after our first house was the original main feature.  But, before I get into that, I have to post about a recent adventure I had.

Since we've owned a house, I've always enjoyed being neighborly.  I know it's common in America for neighbors to barely see each other or talk to each other for years because people drive into their garage, close the door before entering the house and they don't come out until the next morning when they leave for work.  Happily (for me) both of our streets have included active retired people, people who don't work traditional 9-5 hours, and me, a stay at home parent.  People who happen to be coming and going and who are often around during the day.  On our current cul de sac, no one has fences in their back yards and the circular arrangement means we end up visiting whenever anyone is out shoveling, doing yard work or getting the mail.  We have an association which means we have meetings and dues which have to be handed to the correct person which has been our house for a few years so people have no choice but to come over!  We have a block party every summer and we all end up helping each other.  We water plants, babysit cats and kids (like when a person goes into labor at 11 p.m. for example) and I am the go to person when someone needs their house opened up for a delivery or repair person.  This friendliness leads to silly neighborly antics like arguments over what the name of the male pheasant who lives behind our houses is and lots of roof climbing to retrieve kites (that was Ben) plastic swords (our neighbors grandson threw one on our roof) and various winter related roof nonsense like frozen sewer vents and massive snow drifts that threaten to pull down gutters.

So, the Wednesday before Easter our neighbor from two houses down came over to let me know they were babysitting a cat for a friend who was overseas for a month and he was really scared and had slipped out of the house somehow and they couldn't find him.  Of course I said I would be on the lookout and I put cat food and a box with a towel out on the deck.  On Thursday he had been spotted but then he disappeared again.  I was worried because it was really cold for the time of year (cold as January) but I saw no sign of him and we left for Easter that afternoon.  When I returned the following Tuesday I saw some cat prints in the snow in our backyard but I wasn't sure how old they were or if the cat had already been caught.  But the next morning there were prints all over the yard and when I returned from the school drop off run there were fresh wet prints on the deck by the food dish!  Uhhh I just missed him!

I knew the cat had to be close so I tried to think of the smelliest, most enticing food I could put out there.  All the online advice says to use tuna or wet cat food.  But...I thought of the times I had seen the most civilized dogs and cats, well fed pets, lose their minds over dead game during hunting season.  I've seen cats drink blood and dogs turn insane over organs so I decided wild game was the best idea and we have a freezer full of it!  How perfect! 

 I found a pack of Elk hamburger from 2015 in there and cooked it and put a small dish outside.  

Allan was annoyed that I don't cook wild game for him...

There was no action all day, much to my disappointment but the next morning the bowl was licked clean.  So I called the neighbors and they were thrilled because they had seen no sign of the cat for days and were starting to give up because it was really cold out.  They brought over a live trap they had set for a few days with no success and I put the elk inside and the next morning it was still open.  Dang.  It turns out the food dish was placed such that the trip pad didn't need to be stepped on to eat the food and activate the trap.  So Friday night I placed two small bowls way at the back of the trap and went to sleep that night hoping but always worried that it still wouldn't work.  The low temperature was going to be 7 degrees that night and I really was worried about that cat.

Saturday morning Allan woke me up in the predawn hours by being his usual annoying cat self and walking on my head, purring really loud, all the usual moves.  I couldn't get back to sleep because I was thinking about the trap.  I wasn't sure what time of night the cat was visiting and I didn't want to turn on all the lights and scare him away.  But finally around 6 a.m. I couldn't take it any longer and I went to look.  And I was thrilled to see the door was closed!  I went out and carefully pulled back the blanket covering the trap, hoping a crazed squirrel or rabbit wasn't in there and there was a fluffy cat face staring at me!

I went and woke Justin up so he could help me bring the trap inside and we carried him to the basement bathroom so he could get warm.  Later that morning we called the neighbors to tell them the news and everyone was so happy.  When the owner in Europe heard the news she got my number and called to thank me.  She said she celebrates Orthodox Easter and it was that weekend and it was their Easter miracle.  I told her about the morning our missing cat showed up on Easter morning when I was a kid and it was a happy phone call for us both.  There were a lot of people on the hunt for this cat on all the missing pet social media pages and my elk idea is now all over although I don't take all the credit because they gave me the trap.  I just love cats and I imagined how upset I would be if I was away and Allan was loose in the cold.  I hope someone would help me if they could.

And here he is...the sneaky Maine Coon himself who caused a two week long neighborhood cat hunt during a record breaking April cold snap which included at least two blizzards.  I lost count there have been so many.

Apparently since being brought back into the house he has become very comfortable and snuggly as he waits for his owner to return where before he only hid under the bed all day.  Also, he was snubbing dry cat food.  I guess he acquired a taste for the good stuff.  

I'm still thinking back to that morning with happiness and I'm glad I was able to help some fellow animal lovers and I'm glad we all knew each other well enough to work together.  And, I admit I have enjoyed being recognized for my efforts in something.  It's the life of a mom-you constantly do thankless work and often you are completely ignored, your work is undone within minutes, you are considered lazy for not having a job and people assume you and your kids sit around the house doing nothing all day, and things you do are complained about (ahem, every meal I present to my kids).  At least the cat wants the food I make!  

Easter 2018

YWe had a nice Easter weekend.  The kids had Monday and Tuesday off from school which gave us a five day weekend.  Tessa had an Easter party at school and came home with these:

These are now turning up everywhere I look.  On the floor, on the table, on the counter, back on the floor, in the entry.  I need to sneak them into the garbage.  Also, sweet mother, the entryway looks like a sandbox.  

We headed to Easter ND for Easter and the weather and conditions were just horrid.  We arrived at the farm and I immediately got stuck in the driveway in the muddiest mudhole I've ever seen.  Usually, an April Easter is more pleasant than a March Easter but this year...ugh.  It was cold as January while also being muddy everywhere.  There was also a winter weather warning for Friday night.  Good thing I was able to travel ahead of it.  

We have always taken the kids to a big public egg hunt (more like grab-no skill involved at this event!) and the two year old hunt was scheduled for 8:30 a.m.  So we get up really early only to arrive and discover it has been delayed two hours because of the weather.  But eventually...

This was after Milo had his turn.  We had Ben and Tessa both go during the 4-5 year old hunt so we wouldn't have to wait around any longer.  He turned 6 less than a month before so...

Off they go!

Be is in the blue and black shirt and Tessa is in the polka-dot pants.  

Milo was starting to lose his composure after waiting for the older kids' egg hunt to start and Calvin was crabby too.  

Here Milo is whining because he wanted to open the eggs even though he already opened his own earlier.  

We had another egg dying session at the farm  that afternoon.  My parents were talking about how when they were kids they did the "blow out" technique where you poke holes at each end of the egg and blow the yolk.  At the church my mom grew up going to the ladies would decorate elaborate eggs every Easter and keep them through the years.  I recall doing this once when I was younger but it was probably 25 years ago.  My dad demonstrated!

It still works!  The key is sticking something like a skewer up one end to break up the yolk before blowing.  

On Easter morning the kids were excited to get their baskets.  Then we went to church and made it at 7:30 a.m.  Amazing!  At the end of the service during the recessional hymn, which was "Lift High the Cross" the minister invited all the kids to the front where they had a basket of small crosses which they could hold up during the refrain.  Milo ran right up there and we were worried he would whack someone but he didn't!  Amazing!

Here is Tessa with her basket.  I didn't get many pictures. 

Ben wrote a note to the Easter Bunny asking if we could hunt for eggs inside.  He said yes.

He's really an artist with those streamers, isn't he?  

In addition to Easter, the weekend also included some birthday fun for...ME!  My birthday was on Wednesday but I had my fun ahead of time.  First I had a cake which is actually a layered pudding desert my mom made.  

Yee haw PARTY TIME!  The kids were not too impressed when I opened my gifts, which included clothes, a coffee mug and some pot holders.  Oh, and a plane ticket to California this summer!  YEAHHH!

I got another cake later in the weekend.  Justin's mom only had the numbers 1, 2, and 6 in candle form so I picked an age...will I be 12?  26? 61? 62? Nope, I'm going to be 21 of course!

Look!  You can see my pajama pants!  I had to change because Justin and I went to Olive Garden for supper (by ourselvessss!) and I got a free desert and I was so full I could barely move.  You can also see Milo peeking over my shoulder.  I don't think I'm fooling anyone.  I couldn't quickly locate a picture from my actual 21st birthday but here is one from May of 2004 when I was newly 21.  

Now why on earth was I wasting my tight and toned legs by wearing pants like that...the world will never know.