August Randomness

August has been a busy month, and as it comes to a close, I feel the cumulative effects of Mommy ADD. My thoughts dart hither, thither and yon, without a chance to become complete, coherent, and cogent.

I'm proud that I could use the word cogent appropriately. Perhaps there's hope after all.

Anyway, here are some of my random thoughts for August:

1. Vacations that require four days in a car should come with an extra four days of vacation at the end.

2. Bill Cosby was right. Parents aren't interested in justice; they just want quiet. For this reason, I'm finding our new school schedule a blessing. Nick gets up horrifyingly early, so I get up with him and we have a few minutes to talk while he eats breakfast. Then, Jack gets up after Nick leaves, and we have some nice time together before he gets on the bus. Then I get 6.5 blissful hours of quiet. Nick gets home an hour before Jack, which gives me time with Nick again, and when Jack gets home, I can focus on him. The bickering that drove me crazy this summer is pretty much gone with this new schedule, and the angry mommy face that screamed for quiet has entered hibernation until next summer. Good riddance.

3. If you have a friend who's going through a divorce, please remember that she (or he) is still a person who needs friends and that she (or he) will not automatically try to steal your spouse. I've had several friends tell me that their married friends started pulling away after they separated from their spouses...just when the newly separated really needed their friends, and this makes me very sad.

4. Daisy is currently chewing on a blue ball (yes, please laugh). The ball is hollow and has holes in either end. Now that Daisy has the ball good and slobbery, the open ends make a disgusting noise as she chews. It's very distracting.

5. I wish she would stop.

6. Oh, good. She dropped the ball. It rolled closer to me, so she got up, pounced on it, and plopped down right at my feet to continue making annoying noises.

7. I don't have the energy to take it from her. Does this make me a bad person, or just whiny?

8. My favorite picture from our recent trip to the Newport Aquarium:

Doesn't this matamata turtle look cheerful? Of course, it could be an evil grin. Perhaps he is contemplating biting the hand that feeds him. But I'm happier anthropomorphizing his grin and have added him as the wallpaper on my computer.

9. I bought a stamp set recently that has lots of inspirational Bible verses and quotations. One of them is my new mantra: "In every ordinary day there are a thousand miracles." Don't you just love that?

10. Here's a miracle from an ordinary day:

I bought two pansy plants for my front porch in the spring. They died in June because I kill pretty much every plant I ever own. Since then, the pots have remained sadly on my front porch while the dead pansies rotted in the hot hot sun. But one of them is coming back, without any help from me and despite an incredibly dry month. A miracle.

And now I invite you to share a random thought from August in the comments. Silly or sublime, it matters not. Just share.

Random in May

Aside from the Thanksgiving to Christmas holiday season, May is my busiest time of year. School activities with the boys really do wreck my routine in some wonderful ways. Here are random observations from my life at the moment because I'm incapable of coherent, well-developed thoughts.

1. Jack wants to be a window washer when he grows up, which makes sense because when he returned to school after spring break, he told his teachers that his favorite part of the break was washing our windows. I felt compelled to assure the teachers that we did fun stuff on break: we ate lunch at McD's and bought toys at Toys Backward-R Us and saw a movie at the theater and visited a children's museum with his best friend forever. But the window washing won Jack's heart. Go figure.

2. Nick wants to be a soldier when he grows up. This is the child who does not want to die. In fact, he has stated in the past that he didn't want to be anything dangerous when he grew up. Now, he wants to be a soldier. As a patriotic American, I would be proud to have a son serve our country. As a mom, all I have to say is, "I hate testosterone."

3. I'm scheduled for a sleep study in early June and had the initial consult this week. The sleep doctor asked why I was there, and I told him about my joint pain...because that's the biggest symptom bothering me that could, possibly, be from sleep problems. He was puzzled by this and said so, especially since my sleep patterns and hygiene are good. Then, I remembered that my doctor ordered the sleep study not for my joint pain but because I probably have SVT (racing heartbeat not caused by stress or activity). That cleared everything up for the sleep doctor, who suddenly acted all "Yes, you DO need a sleep study!" His reaction made me realize that what is important to a patient is often not important to a doctor...and what is important to the doctor isn't always the first thing to pop into a patient's mind. This made me feel sorry for doctors, especially when their patients are doofuses. Like me. (And lest you feel concerned for my health, SVT isn't life-threatening. It's just annoying, especially since my symptoms are mild.)

4. Daisy's breeder is married to a veterinary orthopedic surgeon. Dang, that's convenient since she may very well need surgery on both knees.

5. Orville Redenbacher has changed the bags on microwave popcorn to a special pop-up serving box...a change that is touted quite vividly on the packaging. At the same time, however, he has secretly decreased the amount of popcorn in the bag. Mr. Redenbacher, I am not fooled.

6. "I merely took the energy it takes to pout and wrote some blues." --Duke Ellington There's a huge essay in that one sentence, don't you think?

7. I won the Mommy of the Year award today. Jack won't eat muffins, but the school sponsored Muffins with Mom this morning. I bought Krispie Kreme chocoate glazed donuts with sprinkles for the event and am now his favorite parent. I also need insulin.

8. After cleaning out my bookshelves and organizing my books, I discovered that I own 43 books I have not read. In fairness I didn't buy a lot of them...many were either given or loaned to me. But rather than read any of them now, I'm re-reading the Harry Potter books because my brain is so overloaded with May stuff that it can't handle anything new. How sad is that?

9. I love rubber stamping. I heartily wish everyone in the world had a hobby that gave them as much pleasure as mine gives me.

10. This week, we watched Top Gun for the first time in many, many years. The opening scene of sailors launching fighters from the deck of a naval carrier makes me proud to be an American. George aimed high with the Air Force, and seeing Top Gun takes me back to his navigator training days and all the rampant testosterone associated with it. George actually used the following line from the movie on me several times in the early days of his career: "That's classified. I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you." This always made me pull a muscle in my eye from rolling it. On a happier note, he and some of his ROTC buddies serenaded me with You've Lost that Lovin' Feelin'. It didn't work so well for Maverick in the movie, but George got lucky because we were already married. I think that's what they call stacking the odds in your favor.

Top Gun She's Lost That Lovin' Feelin'

Is there a movie that represents the ethos of your life at some point like Top Gun evokes aspects of our military life? Please share!

More Randomness

1. George, after introducing me to buckeyetraffic.org, a website that shows traffic conditions in Ohio: "I get a bizarre satisfaction from being inside and seeing how crappy the roads are." Our next-door neighbor's car is at the base of his driveway. Another neighbor's car is on his sidewalk.

2. This is because everything outside is covered in ice. Covered. In. Ice. I finished all my laundry yesterday so we would have plenty of clean underwear in the event of a power outage. I want credit for that advanced planning.

3. I do not like ice.
4. Mother Nature doesn't care what I like or don't like.

5. My next book order: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels: A Love Story. A steamy real-life romance will make me forget about ice. Too bad I don't already have it in my cold, cold hands.

6. My hands are cold because my husband keeps the thermostat at 64 degrees. All. Winter. Long.

7. I need a hug.