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Various Ponderings

So it has been quite some time since I was last here, and many things have wandered their way through the twisty (note: not twisted) paths of my imaginative mind. Nothing of importance, mind you, but I do have some questions.

#1 What is so dang important on the opposite side of the road that all these tiny little 'woolly bear' caterpillars must take part in their own version of Frogger to get to the other side??? Are they suicidal? Is it some strange 'rite of passage' they all must do? It sure seems like they're all on the road! Maybe they should exchange a few words with the other woolly bear that they are meeting in the middle of the road to find out what it's like over there....maybe it's actually worse over there and that's why they are risking their lives to get away from that side. It seems like there needs to be some better planning on their part. And then there's the dilemma when I'm driving...do I try to avoid running them over, if possible, or do I just squish 'em if they're that dumb to be out there in the first place?

#2 Is there some sort of "spill attractant" added into floor cleaner that almost guarantees that no more than 30 minutes will pass from the time you finish mopping the floor to the time someone spills something all over your clean floor? Is it a conspiracy involving Mr. Clean to stay in business? Or is there some instinct that kids have that makes them mess up neat and clean things as soon as possible? I'm not sure what exactly it is, but I know there is some force working against me here......

#3 Why does it take 10x longer for me to pick up and clean the house than it does to completely mess it up? That just doesn't seem right to me at all. Between the kids playing in their rooms and spilling stuff, Jess dragging out all his crap and leaving it all over, and the dog making sure the couch always has a layer of his beautiful golden hair covering it and that any pillow or blanket is on the floor...why do I even bother?

#4 Speaking of the dog, how does Scout even have any hair left on his body when he drops enough every day to cover another whole dog?? He better start hanging onto some of it pretty soon, or he's going to freeze his tail off....winter is coming soon!

Maybe I have too much time to think about these things....while I am running over caterpillars and re-mopping the floors. Maybe I need to get out more!!!

Sweet Pickins

Yesterday we went to Cain's Orchard to pick some apples. Grandma Vicki even came along to join in the fun! Some people might choose to just go there and buy the already picked, washed and bagged apples...but not us! We have to hop on the wagon, ride up the hill (which we could easily walk up ourselves, but what fun would that be?), hop off the wagon, get a bag, grab an 'apple picker' thing so we can reach the high-up apples, and head off into the "apple forest" to find the juiciest, sweetest apples. For Emi, even the 'apple picker' thing didn't reach high enough, so being the monkey that she is, she had to try to climb up the trees to get the apples at the very tippy-top of the tree. Even though there is a sign that says "Please do not climb in the apple trees." Even though we told her numerous times to stay out of the trees. Once I heard her in a tree, and called her to come over by me. I heard "Just a minute...scrape, rustle, thwack, ooof! ..... I'm OK!" Yep, she fell out of a tree. I think it hurt a little more than she let on, but I don't think she wanted anyone to tell her "I told you so!"

Then there is the ever graceful Chase, who managed to trip and fall over the apples that were laying on the ground under the trees....a couple sticks....and his own feet. Then, he would have to reenact his fall so we all could see what happened.....in slow motion. What a goofball. I think he ended up eating more apples than he put into the bag. He would find a good one, look it over, rub it on his shirt a little, then take a big bite out of it. I guess they all must have passed his taste inspection. I'm surprised he didn't get a bellyache!

Once in a while, when we were trying to pick an apple from a very loaded branch, a kamikaze apple would let loose and hurl towards whoever was tugging on that branch. The first time I got hit (yes, it happened more than once), the first thing that popped into my head was that scene in The Wizard of Oz where Dorothy and the Scarecrow are walking through the forest and try to pick an apple off a tree, and the trees end up throwing apples at them. Maybe I've watched that movie too many times, but I'm not the only one....Not 2 minutes after that, my mom came up to me chuckling and saying how the orchard reminded her of The Wizard of Oz. Now I want to watch it again!

If anyone would like any apples, we have plenty to go around! We had so much fun we got way carried away with the apple picking. There also seemed to be a competition going on between Emi and Chase to see who could find the "best" apple. This might also have comtributed to the (over) abundance of apples we brought home. Oh well...it's so worth having to figure out what to do with them all now-we had a great time!

Apple crisp, apple cake, apples and caramel, apple salad, apple pie, apple crunch, applesauce, apples and porkchops.....now I want to watch Forrest Gump! ;-)

One Kidney Club

It has now been 1 month since Jess had his kidney surgery. He has been back to work for a week, which I think has been harder for him than he thought it would

be. Being off from work for 3 weeks seemed like FOREVER to him. Like now he should feel completely better. When I ask him how he feels, he sounds so surprised that he isn't feeling 100% yet. Man, you had major surgery where an organ was taken out of your body. And the fact that you lucked out and don't have the typical 13" incision across your whole side doesn't mean that you are going to be completely better right now. Faster, sure. Recovery time is shorter, but that doesn't mean back to your usual self. He's going to have to have patience with himself, which he does not have. I asked the Dr.

to take out the stubborn while he was in there yanking out the
kidney, but I guess that didn't happen. Now that I think about it, the stubborn probably wouldn't fit thorough the 3" incision they used to get the kidney out. He sure has a whole lot of stubborn in him!
But, he is feeling better....not super fantastic, but better. I guess when you don't have a kidney twice the normal size that it's supposed to be pushing other things around, you would feel a little better. I am just thankful that things worked with no extra problems. It seems like a long time to him, but not very long at all to me. Really, how many people, 2 weeks after having a kidney out, would be on the lake fishing?? Jess for sure. If his surgery had been the traditional way instead of da Vinci laparoscopic surgery, he would only be about half way through his recovery, and still looking at another month before he could go back to work. Yikes for all of us! So, here's a big THANK YOU going out to the da Vinci robot at Sacred Heart!

TP

So we were driving through town on the way to the football game tonight and obviously the Senior class has been busy. Very busy. I'm not sure that if I went to the store tomorrow that there would be any toilet paper left. In any store in town. Or the surrounding area. It has to all be in the trees and bushes and around flagpoles. Pretty much anything that is stationary was fair game it seems. There also seems to be a lot of plastic wrap around mailboxes and between trees. We even saw one old car that had been completely wrapped up in plastic. Right away the kids thought it was kind of gross. But when they found out that the toilet paper hadn't been used before it was draped all over everything, all of a sudden it was cool. Uh oh. I think Chase thought it was cool that he now knows what it means if someone's house gets TP'd. Mr. Friend-of-the-Earth did think it was wrong to waste all that paper and then not even clean it up OR recycle it, so he didn't want to think it was cool, but deep down he did. He wanted to drive all around town to see if there were any other houses that had been TP'd, like we drive around before Christmas looking at all the lights and decorations. Instead of a light tour, we did a TP tour. Emi just thinks it would be fun to do, and I got the impression from the total awe in her voice that she would do it to our house right now if given half the chance.

I think I'm going to go hide the toilet paper....

Oh, and the Norsemen won 41-29! We B-B-B-B-Beat 'em! (sorry, flashback to my cheerleading days)

Finally FRIDAY!

I don't remember the last time I was so glad that it was Friday! And what a Friday it was. I just might need the whole weekend to recover from this one day. It was a mess! I'm not going into detail...I will spare the gory business, but much of it had to do with the bathroom and messes typically found in that room and the struggle to clean said messes up. This is a day when I feel like taking a boiling hot shower and soaking in a nice bath of bleach. ugh. I knew the day was going down the toilet (pun totally intended) when the girl came to school tired and with wet clothes. When asked why her socks were all wet (and the bottom of her pants, and a big spot on her shirt) she said her dog peed and she got wet. She was wearing clothing that was wet with dog urine. Not a great start to the day. It didn't help at all that this girl is tired and didn't want to do anything she had to do, so most everything was a struggle...to say the least.

On a happier note, it is Homecoming week here and the kids and I are going to the pig roast and to the football game. I don't know what it is about football, but I really like it. And although I am not in high school, and Homecoming itself has changed quite a bit since I had anything to do with it, I can't help but get a little more excited about it than a regular game. Probably the good memories I have from it. Geez, I'm sounding old and all sentimental about this. Anyway, time to go to the game!

Go Norse, beat the Indees!!

Arrr, Mateys!

Emi and Chase are so into pirates lately! They have pirate hats, swords, an eye patch, and even some 'jewels' from some booty they 'stole' on an adventure (some of my grandma's old jewelry!) Today they were playing pirates together after school, and it was so funny listening to them I just stayed in the kitchen so I could hear them. Chase was Captain Jack (Sparrow, I would assume), Emi was a girl pirate who apparently couldn't decide on a name, which made Capt. Jack confused, so he just started calling her "scallywag." Scout got to play, too, and they called him the "Scurvy Pup" and made him walk the plank more than once for trying to chew the (foam) swords up and running off with some of their booty. They had made treasure maps and everything, which must have been difficult to follow since the "Scurvy Pup" did manage to chew up Capt. Jack's compass that he got in some loot from McDonald's. That mightily upset Capt. Jack, so he then banished "Scurvy Pup" to Davy Jones' Locker. There was a lot of "aye aye Captain" and "Ahoy, me hearty" being said, and even some pirate laughing (yo-ho-ho in a deep voice that sounded quite similar to Santa Clause's ho-ho-ho.) This went on for about an hour until the pirates got hungry and wanted some grub. Being pirates must be hard work! I'm so glad that they play so well with each other....most of the time! Next time they're fighting, maybe I should threaten to make them walk the plank!