The Almost One Week Break

I'm sorry it has taken so long to get back here, but I've been crazy busy with all sorts of social activities and as Lubbock isn't napping as long as he used to, something had to give.

Right now, Kevin is getting his oil changed, Lubbock is taking a nap, my mom (who is in town for the weekend again) is taking a nap, and I just completed the tedious task of calculating how much we donated to Goodwill last year ... almost $3200. Wow! That's a lot of clutter. More on clutter clearing later.

Let's go back to the beginning of the week.

The Frozen Back Seat

We found out just before Christmas that Kat had a cracked tooth. They were unable to do anything at the time because she had just had all her shots, so they said to wait until January and bring her in then. Our choices were to do a root canal (I think they said $5000, but I could be wrong) or extract it (a mere $250). I believe you know what I did. Anyway, she was beyond upset at having to go into her cage and peed all over the place, but I didn't notice the smell until we were already on our way to the vet. When I noticed that pee had leaked out of the cage, I was happy (yes, happy) that the weather was so frigid that day. The pee had simply frozen into little pee balls and were sitting on the seat. I simply wiped them up with a Kleenex! I've never been so happy for cold weather.

We were supposed to go to a play group that morning, too, but Lubbock was being B-A-D and I did not have the energy to try to take him out in public.

The Extreme Close Up

We went to the Red Oak Nature Center again, but this time with Jen, Lori, Hailey, and Sergio. We let them go crazy for about two hours and they loved every minute of it. I can't tell you how much I enjoy going there.

I was taking pictures of the kiddos running around looking at snakes and walking sticks and everything else and was zooming in and out. I took a picture of Lubbock and I, forgetting I was zoomed in. I like the picture anyway.

The Angry Volcano

Then Thursday morning came and my once monthly Mom's Together meeting. We're supposed to be there at 9:15a so there is time to drop off kids at the Kid's Together program and be back for a little chatting and breakfast prior to the speaker. Lubbock (aka my little alarm clock) decided to sleep in this particular morning. So, at 8a, I threw him in his seat for his breakfast, hopped in the shower, got out, put him in the tub, put the egg casserole in the oven to heat up, got ready, pulled Lubbock out of the tub, got him ready, put on makeup, pulled casserole out of over, placed in car, started car to warm up, put Lubbock in car, saw that it was 9:04a, thought ... "I can't believe I'll make it."

Famous last words.

I forgot that I told Heather I'd bring her grapes for her. So, take Lubbock back out of car, run into house, rinse and pluck grapes into a Ziploc bag, all the time, fighting with Lubbock that he need not be between me and the sink, anger building in me like a volcano (it's exactly what I was thinking right at that moment). But, we got back in the car, made it to the meeting and I was very thankful that anything involving moms and kids will never start on time.

Our speaker this month was Julie Barnhill. She was talking about mothers and anger and about her book, She's Gonna Blow. I thought it was quite spectacular when she likened anger to volcanoes, giving examples of explosions and lava and words spewing out of a mothers mouth. I knew exactly what she meant. They then reminded us that in two weeks, they were starting a book study class on Julie's book. A six week course with free child care. So, I signed up. I need it. It doesn't hurt that they're providing child care, but that wasn't exactly the top reason.

The Gas Can in My House

I think I've mentioned this, but the vehicle I bought just before having Lubbock had been sitting around for a year or two prior. I drove it around for a while, never paying attention to the gas gauge (or how far I had been driving) as it was sitting above 3/4 of a tank. While driving around when I was 10 months pregnant, the car broke down. Fortunately, I was right in front of a mechanic. They looked the car over and after about 15 minutes, informed me I had run out of gas.

"But, I had 3/4 a tank ... how is that possible?"

They shrugged and told me where the nearest gas station was. They donated a gallon to the cause to get me there and refused payment, possibly thinking the longer they kept me on their property, the more likely the possibility of me having my baby right there!

A few weeks later, I was driving with Lubbock to show him off at my old office, when I ran out of gas again. I was tracking my miles, thinking that surely I could go 300 miles on a tank of gas (since that's what my last car got). Wrong. Again, fortunately, my good friend, Bill, was able to bring me a gallon of gas and we were on our way ... vowing that from then on, I would never go past 200 miles without filling up.

That was over a year and a half ago.

Thursday afternoon, I was running late for my doctor's appointment and thought, I'll fill up afterward. I made it to the appointment and as I was just thinking about filling up, I noticed that my needle was down at 1/4 of a tank. Is it possible that it fixed itself (something my mechanic told me was possible, but I had given up hope of)? I called Kevin and told him of the amazing event of the day. I then called my sister and started planning our afternoon together.

Sputter, sputter. Heart dropping.

I ran out of gas. I was able to pull off the busy road, but not able to make it to the gas station (about another 1/2 mile up the road). I had not worn my coat on this balmy 30 degree day and was wearing my cute loafers with no socks. I had also cleaned out my car, leaving my gas can at home. Could this have happened at a worse time?

I called Kevin and he informed me that he was too busy to help ... hmph. Called my sister, but she is extremely nervous about driving outside of her comfort zone and this was way outside. Heather couldn't help because she had Lubbock, so one more kid than car seat. Who else? All my friends with school aged children were likely picking them up or waiting for them to come home. I called Kevin again. He finally agreed that he could come get me, swearing that I could not have possible run out of gas if I only drove 240 miles. But, that's exactly what happened. I love my car, but not it's quirky habit of running out of gas.

The Scrapbooking Forest

Yesterday, I was determined to get my side of the playroom in order. I organized (and yes, purged) all my paper, envelopes, magazines, and stamps. I believe after going through all this, I am responsible for a small forest. I'll make up for it on Arbor Day.

I organized it in two separate file containers. I used ROY G. BIV! With additional folders for white, pink, brown, black, metallic, and patterned. I put paper in one and envelopes in another. Please ... all my local friends ... should you need white envelopes, take mine! I'm overloaded.

The good news is that the room is almost ready for the computer to go down there and I can walk into my area. I still need to pare down my magazines and pictures, but that's a project for another week. I'm proud of the progress I've made so far.


I hope to not have another one week break, but I've also got lots going on around here. I'm considering my Great Aunt Jan's advice to join Fly Lady. It looks like a great step-by-step plan to get control of your home life, but I've been making such great strides that I think I might wait until all the big projects are completed around here.