Flashback Friday

Grandpa's Little Helper

June 2006

The Good, The Bad, & The Expensive

The Good:

• splashing in the pool with the kids
• Austin finally getting brave enough to jump in and go under water all by himself
• hibiscus blooms
• a cool(er) basement
• lunch with my sisters
• Captain Morgan and vanilla Coke

The Bad:

• hot weather and no AC
• sunburn~ 3 days later my back is still crispy
• landscaping weeds that just don't give up
• neighbor's pool parties @ 1am~ the least they could do is invite me
• rejection~ a total slap in the face

The Expensive:

• dropping $1000+ on a 23 year old AC unit that has an unrepairable leak
• the alternative~ spending $3500+ on a new unit. I do believe we are between a rock and a hard place. It's 84* in my house right now~ I am at their mercy

Wow! What A Week!

And it's only Thursday. So far, we've:

• put down a load of wood chips underneath the back bedroom windows.
• I've taken on the project of reclaiming the landscaping from the weeds. We have not done a thing to either side of the house since moving in 5 years ago. This is going to be THE project of the summer. My plan is to tear everything out, lay down wood chips and defend it from the evil weeds. Then maybe next summer if all goes well, I'll add some perennials and stone borders.
• rented the Rug Doctor and shampooed the living room, hallway, girls' room, and master bedroom. I got the upholstery attachment and did the recliner and car upholstery, floors, and mats. I am now the carpet nazi, guarding my freshly cleaned shag from grubby feet, crumby snacks, and a dog that (for whatever reason) cannot eat at his dish but instead grabs a mouthful, trots thru the dining room, and then drops it to eat off the carpet in the hallway.
• taxied Austin back and forth to Columbia all week for b~ball camp. While he practiced his skillz (which come naturally from his talented mama;P) the girls and I hung with Rona, Katy, and Andrew. We used McD's coupons for free frappes (sooo yummy), laughed and caught up from last week, and generally did crowd control.
• Audrey spent the nite with Katy; Anna joined us last nite for a sleepover with Austin.
• Austin got a summer 'do. He wanted bald, but I don't want him looking like a cancer patient. Seriously, last summer, Tom got to him with his clippers and with him being so scrawny and all, it was almost embarrassing for me to take him in public. So we went with a very short buzz cut.

Yay, for Friday!!!

I Have A Confession

I have been pressured, coerced even, to join this little online network by several friends. Perhaps you've heard of it? It's called facebook. I remained steady in my resolve that I would not ever join because I had my blog and bloggers are cooler than facebookers. Well, a few weeks ago I finally caved, the pressure just a little too great, I buckled and signed up. And you can see what that's done to my blog. Aside from a "not me Monday" post, I have been MIA. It's just too easy to share a thought or two thru facebook without having to sit and contemplate a blog post.

So I promise, I'll try to be a little more faithful to the blog. I do have my priorities after all. So while I'm trying to catch up I might as well post Austin's b~ball stats from his season this spring. I tallied up all the stats several weeks ago and the paper has been floating around in my purse waiting for me to blog about it. I figured for memory's sake I should record the action here.

Here's the run~down:

7 games

100 points~ 14.29 pts./game average

13 missed shots~ 79.4% from the floor

made 50 out of 63 attempts

12 rebounds

his team (the wolverines) won 5 (maybe 6 games) for a 5(6)-1 record

The "maybe" is because I missed that game and didn't get a final score from my sub stat taker

Austin gets in on the action again this Monday with a basketball camp at Columbia Central.

Not Me Monday: Bathroom Secrets

• In an effort to spare my carpet a parade of dirty, sunscreened, sand~boxy children, you would have never, EVER heard me tell them to be discreet and find a bush when they announce that they have to go potty while playing outside.
• This has never backfired on me and I have not ever caught my now 4 year old daughter, stripped down naked, relieving herself out in the open front lawn.
• I have absolutely not been so impressed with my offsprings, umm, bathroom successes that I have not called my husband in to get a look and/or take pictures of the, umm, accomplishments. Said accomplishments would not be so long that they would actually wrap around the toilet and leave me wondering how something so tiny could make something so big.
• I wouldn't even dream of giving my son permission to relieve himself in a KFC cup while stuck in the van during an overly long, drawn out day of errands. I had not made him hold it for so long that he more than halfway filled the 20 oz. cup. He was not so duly impressed that he didn't ask to save it to show his sisters when they woke up. I absolutely did not agree, so I did not have a cup of urine sloshing around in my cup holder for the rest of the trip around town.

What about you? What have you not done this week?

Now I Really Have Issues

My little laundry problem has grown slightly larger. Last Wednesday was my first full day home without track or work so I determined that this would be the day I would finally get all of my laundry done. I put the first load in and went back down later to stick it in the dryer when I realized that my machine was broken. Yup, BROKEN. It had gone through the wash cycle but I couldn't get it to drain or go through the spin cycle (no matter how many times or with how much force I turned the stupid dial.) So there I was with a washer full of water and semi~dirty clothes. The next day I fished out all of the clothes, wrung them out, and took the load into Vandercook to the laundry mat. But my washer is still full of dirty water and we're getting to near crisis mode with the laundry situation again.

Tom had most of the weekend off because of the holiday so I asked him to take a look at it. I got home Sunday nite and asked about the situation and he informed me that we could get a new washer for about $600. His rationalization~ by the time we get someone to come to the house, & parts, & service.... Yeah, that's great and all, but whose money is this anyways? Don't get me wrong, I would love one of these but when a service call will hopefully only cost a couple hundred dollars, I think that's our best bet for now. If my mechanically inclined husband couldn't fix it first. So I asked him please, please, PLEASE look at the freakin' machine. He claims he doesn't know what's wrong with it. I can't figure out if he's being for real or just dumb and uncooperative so I went ahead and scheduled a service call. Of course, they can't come out until Thursday and I shudder to think about what our clothing situation will be like at that point. Plus, I'm hoping we're not going to be paying $69 for them to come and tell me my washer is junk and not fixable. In which case, we might as well splurge and get the matching dryer, too.

Oh Yeah!!!

• Tim Horton's in the park with my favorite (little) girlies and my SIL with her kids
• a clean picked up house
• a leisurely bike ride with the kids on the trail
• sunshine and playtime in the backyard
• bath and nap to follow in hopes the kids are rested for graduation and an open house tonite

Yeah, this is my kinda day!=)

Finally!!!

Track season is coming to a close and that is the first word that comes to mind... finally! I love to work with the girls and I love being at the meets (although the standing in the cold part really sucks) but I am so glad that I am almost done. There's the Selby coaches meeting tomorrow, a couple of my girls possibly running in the Selby next week and a sports awards nite where I never fail to make a fool out of myself because I stand up in front of everyone and blubber like an idiot, but I am almost done! I feel like my "real" life has been put on pause these last 12 weeks and now it's time to get back to enjoying life as to just surviving it. In the next few weeks I have to catch up on:

• my kids~ Austin's last day of kindergarten is next week... already!
• gardening
• I may, just possibly, have some laundry issues that still need to be resolved
• cleaning of the bathrooms~ ugh!
• blogging
• weeding out junk for the gar(b)age sale
• and if I'm really ambitious, thank you notes from my daughter's birthday 2 months ago

Today is my first full day "off", no practice, no work~ yee haw!!! And the weather is gorgeous. I think the first thing I'll cross of my to~do list is the landscaping under the bedroom windows. Enjoy the sunshine!!!

Not Me Monday... Laundry Edition

As I have been, ummm, rather behind on the laundry lately, I thought that this "not me" post should be dedicated to airing the dirty laundry out... one Hosmerville secret at a time.

• I have absolutely not done only 5 or so loads of laundry within the last month. And because of this, you can absolutely see the laundry room and both bathroom floors.
• Because of said laundry issues, I have not routinely snatched worn underwear off the pile on Austin's floor for him to wear again (and again).
• My husband did not, no way, have to go commando the other day at work because his underwear supply ran out. And even if he did, he most certainly did not actually enjoy his free~balling experience.
• (I will definitely not be in the dog house for that last revelation.)
• I did not have to resort to wearing newlywed/pre~baby thongs because my stash of more sensible mommy panties ran out. Said thongs did not leave deep red marks and cut off circulation to my lower extremities. Because after 3 babies I am still a perfect size 2.
• I absolutely learned my lesson after wearing uncomfortable undergarments for several days in a row and did a load of laundry. I did not wake up Saturday morning and dig through my bathing suits to find the most underwear~ish pair of bikini bottoms to wear because I most certainly had a load of freshly laundered unmentionables.
• Eddy has not been known to dig through the laundry and chew holes in the crotchal region of dirty underwear. With the help of meds, he has absolutely been able to kick this disgusting habit.
• I have never loaded my son into the van, wearing only his skivvies and a shirt. And I most certainly have not ever, no never, secured his shorts in the rolled~up window of the van and allowed them to air dry at 70 mph on the way to church.

Nope, not me!!!

Feeling Pig~ish

Well, I'm in the midst of a full blown cold... sore throat, swollen glands, sinus pressure, body ache, etc. Of course, the hypochondriac in me can't help but keep thinking about the swine flu. I have thus far decided to suffer quietly because:

• I don't really care for my general practicing physician
• I heard on the radio this morning that there are still zip, zero, zilch confirmed cases in Jackson county and, really, what's the possibility of little ol' me being the very first case in the whole county?
• I haven't been vacationing in Mexico lately never.
• and although I'm barking like a seal when I cough, I haven't started oinking.

So I think I'm going to just have to tough this one out on my own. It really is no surprise that I'm sick. Being so busy and all, my immune system was bound to be down. I'm now realizing that it's been 2 weeks since my last blog. So what have I been up to? What haven't I been up to is more the question.

• Austin joined me for work on Nat'l Bring Your Child To Work Day. He totally rocked his apron and cap!
• The girls' tattoo nite was a wash. We got there only to find out that they are now booking 3 weeks out. I didn't make an appointment but there have been talks about some ink for Mother's Day. We still managed to enjoy the rest of the evening. Who wouldn't when there was a showing of "Twilight" in the plans?
• We celebrated my BIL's and my birthday at my in~laws. I got money which has already been spent. I was in desperate need of some new summer clothes. I picked up 3 fun necklaces, 2 pairs of flip flops, sunglasses, 7 shirts, and a pair of capris. Then I weeded some old stuff out of my closet. I think I can say that my oldest clothes now date back only to my college days. And it'll be fun getting dressed again these next couple of weeks.
• The track team has been to Colon, Climax~Scotts, Concord, and tonite, Camden Frontier. See a pattern here? (the c's, people) I'm really hoping for some nice weather this evening. Standing out in the cold for hours is not my idea of fun and always has me questioning my reasons for coaching track.
• Austin finished up his basketball season at the Y this past week. He made me take stats every week so I'll have to do a separate post on that later.
• Lexi has been singing "I wike big butts and I can ta why... hey boss, big butts!", quoting Shark Tales several times a day. It appears her big brother has been giving her singing lessons.

I think I'm caught up on the Hosmerville highlights for now. I'm off to wash away some of the germs and try to rest up for the rest of the day.