Oink

Not to make light of it ... at all ... but Jake has swine flu. If I was honest I would say I think it started Saturday night. We went to a baseball game, and he was, well, unusually obedient and complacent. Then Sunday morning he woke up with a fever and a headache. After a trip to the ER and his pediatrician, we got the diagnosis.

I'm a glass half empty type of person so I can say with confidence that I will be the next one to get it. Because I'm a pessimist, yes, but also because he sneezed into my face, into my EYES, on the way out the door today. I felt liquid drops of contagion enter my eyes.

All this would be fine and dandy ... I mean we'll muddle through a couple cases of swine flu. Except that we are supposed to be in Toledo in 10 days for my brother in law's wedding. And everyone but me is IN the wedding.

Cross your fingers. And avoid any flights to Detroit next Thursday.

Of All The Things I've Lost

So I'm standing at the sugar bowl dropping my requisite three cubes of sugar into my coffee when I notice the lid to my sugar bowl is missing. "That's too bad," I think to myself. "I love this cream and sugar set. I wonder what happened to that lid."

I immediately blame Abby, as she loves to play tea party and occasionally I let her use a set of espresso cups and saucers and my cream and sugar set.

And then I notice the lid is in my left hand. Where I've been holding it.

My Own Worst Critic

So after my post on Tuesday I thought I would dig up my to-do list and see just what was on it. (I guess I'm a glutton for punishment.)

And it seems I shortchanged myself!

I have done four things, not 1, on my list. I can cross off:

1. Get a dog. (I was aware of this one.)
4. Travel outside the United States. (My husband took me to Toronto for my birthday this year. You don't turn 29 every day.)
8. Buy a sewing machine. (Granted, mine is still in the box, but I did order an e-pattern for a simple little dress I'm going to try to make Abby for a wedding later this year.)
16. Buy new walking shoes and start walking. (And we are back to Tuesday's post.)

The first thing I noticed ... if I just make each to-do to buy something, I could crank this list out in no time.

Labor Day Resolution

Almost a year ago my friend Joslyn posted a blog about the 35 things she wanted to do before turning 35. Since I was staring down a milestone birthday I came up with my own list. Without divulging my age, let me just say my list was the 40 things I wanted to do before I turned .... 29.

When my birthday rolled around in June I had accomplished ... wait for it ... one thing on my list - get a dog.

In retrospect I'm not sure getting a dog was the BEST decision I've ever made. I mean, Tag the Dog is harmless, but it's kind of like cutting your hair short and dying it blonde. Occasionally you go "What the hell was I thinking?" And then, other days, you fancy your blonde bob.

So, after a spontaneous and disorderly summer during which I spent (wasted is more like it) a lot of time feeling sorry for myself, I decided to kick start the fall with one resolution: walk.

You see, Tag the Dog has been sorely under-exercised this summer, what with the heat and our schedules and my penchant for laziness. So I decided I would get up one hour before everyone else (and if you know me, this is a huge sacrifice) and walk the dog. I got some new walking shoes, created a snappy playlist on my iPod and targeted Monday as our first walking date.

Tag and I were up and out the door on time. My iPod wasn't working but then again, I didn't really feel like listening to thumping workout music at that hour. We headed down the hill, past the golf course. Birds were singing, sprinklers were misting, it was a perfect 75 degrees.

About that time I noticed a young, shirtless kid walking toward me. Unlike me he wasn't out for a morning walk. It looked more like he never went to bed. I crossed the street. He turned and followed. I HATE being that type of person, but I began to worry. Although I was walking in a neighborhood, it was early in the morning, few people were out, and Tag the Dog wouldn't be any help unless he could nuzzle an attacker to the ground.

So I sped up and changed course to walk back to the golf course. Since it was Labor Day, I figured there might be a lot of golfers trying to get an early tee time. I walked up to a woman unpacking her clubs in the parking lot and as she turned and greeted Tag, almost like we knew each other, I asked her if I talk to her for a bit until the young man passed. She said of course. But he didn't pass. He circled the parking lot.

She and I continued to chat. She once had a golden retriever like Tag. She and her sister were from South Dallas and golfed there every Thursday. Her sister arrived on cue and they offered to drive Tag and me home.

So while my walk was cut short I was on the receiving end of the best kind of samaritanism - the spontaneous gesture of someone who saw an opportunity to help and did so, without expecting anything in return. We didn't even exchange names, but I like my story better that way.

And so, that said, what's the moral of the story?

I should've stayed in bed.

Absence Makes The Heart Grow

I was clumsily carrying several things into the office today so when I got in the elevator I set my purse on the floor and tried to reorganize. When I unfolded my sweater and draped it over my arm one of Jake's socks fell out. (It was one with the blue stripe that he's so fond of but has outgrown - a cause of major heartache for him last month.)

And I suddenly missed him very much.

First Day, First Week

Everyone is now back at school. As much as I love the idea of summer vacation, I think our family functions better doing the school year. Routine, good.
Going back to school was uneventful for Sam. When we found out a few of his friends from last year, including his "best" friend, were in his class this year, it calmed any anxiety he had.

But we were a little more worried about Jacob. First of all, we didn't have much time to prepare him for what was ahead. (Although that could be a good thing. I think we sometimes try too hard to "sell" something to a kid, and they get suspicious.) But I thought of it this way: Imagine your boss comes to you on Thursday and tells you that on Monday you will be starting a new job. You won't know any of your coworkers or your boss. You have to commit to it for a year. And by the way, half of your new job will be conducted in a language you don't speak or understand. That is basically what we were thrusting Jake into.

But so far ... and I do realize we are only two days in ... he has done remarkably well. At school at least. He is proud of his backpack and uniform (and one of the cutest kids EVER), is social with his teacher and schoolmates. But by the end of the yesterday, I think he was so tired of please and thank you and yes ma'am and circle time and line leaders and bubbles that he had some pent-up frustration. Which led to a prize-winning wobbler last night when he requested that I somehow defy all laws of physics and put cookies in the lunch I'd packed for him that day. The lunch he'd eaten five hours earlier. The promise to put cookies in the next day's lunch was no consolation.

But after I threatened him with no dinner and an evening spent alone in his room (yes, I have the Carol Brady approach to discipline), he worked his way out.

And we started all over today.