Filed under: Domestic goodness
The past two mornings, I have forced myself to go outside with the kids (O’Baby and Bubba) to get some work done in the jungle that surrounds my house. I have let the tending go way too long and now I’m paying for it with harder-than-it-should-be labor and bug bites all over my entire body.
Yesterday, I worked on the front of the house and along the driveway. I pulled weeds, picked up sticks, chopped down dead perennials, and picked stray grass. It looked nice when I was done, but I didn’t get that much accomplished since I was keeping an eye on the baby and Bubba, who played while I worked.
Today, I finished the front and then worked my way around the northwest side of the house. There were so many tree-hopeful weeds that I had to lop down, so much long grass in the beds. It was a big job.
But amidst the riot of clematis blooms, under the prolific sedum, between the spent peonies, I found treasure. Some long-forgotten cilantro was running rampant. This was a plant I had long-ago given up on because I thought it was too temperamental.
And I also found green beans! There were about ten beautiful, ripe, perfect greens beans just waiting for us to pick. I had given up on the seeds I had planted, since the poor seedlings had all been demolished by bunnies. I thought they never had a chance.
We harvested our surprise cilantro and green beans. We ate a couple of the beans, and are saving some cilantro for fresh homemade salsa.
How nice to come across such unexpected success. Made my day.
Filed under: My Chicago family
Hubby, Bubba and I went to Chicago for a visit this past weekend. We left The Princess and Bro home with O’Baby and assorted friends. I think we all had a very good weekend.
We got to visit and play with my sister’s children. They climbed all over Bubba, who looked like The Giant Boy next to them. Poor Livie got a blister on her finger when she picked up a leaf that Bubba had just burnt with a magnifying glass. And Jack got to run around and chase Bubba around Amy’s dining room table. It was so much fun to watch the cousins play together. It doesn’t happen often enough and they really do love each other.
My sister Amy looks wonderful. She is 23 weeks pregnant with twins and is pretty big, but not as big as I expected. I kept thinking she’d look like Bella in the fourth Twilight book, but she looked strong and healthy and happy. From the back she doesn’t even look pregnant! I don’t know how she does it with the two little ones and two more on the way, but she does.
My dad and I went to the health club together. It was his first time there, and since he is done with cardiac rehab, we thought it would be smart to have him try the club out. He did great – he worked out on three different machines, monitoring his heart rate the whole time. I think he will be able to continue his rehab routine very easily there, and maybe even use a personal trainer to develop a program for him to follow. Good job, Dad!
My brother has a new puppy who we all fell in love with. She is ten weeks old, and very strong and playful. She already listens to my brother, and already goes for walks with him. She will be a very good dog – smart and well-rounded. And she’s so cute!!
My mom cooked her brains out, of course. She and I made fajitas for Amy’s cookout and they turned out really good. Mom also watched the puppy and cleaned and worked and everything else. She is probably passed out on the couch right now, glad to have her quiet house back. It was nice to sit up late and talk with her in the kitchen. I miss that.
Hubby had a great time with his brothers and his mom. One night, he and his brothers met Blondie and her friends at the dogtrack for drinks. They had a wonderful time laughing and talking! Blondie said that she’s never apologized for her family so much in one night. But she and her friends had fun, and she was happy to spend time with her Daddy. Hubby also took Bubba for a fast walk around the gold course on Lake Michigan. Bubba was properly worn out and even found four golf balls! Everybody wins!
Blondie brought her big dog and little dog and her boyfriend to Amy’s cookout. It was nice to meet Kevin, and the dogs behaved well. I don’t know how she handles those dogs, but you can tell she loves them so much.
The Princess and Bro enjoyed having the house to themselves while we were gone. They each had friends over, so the house was always full. I think the only bed that wasn’t slept in was the one in the guest room! They grilled, shot off fireworks, and hung out. And when the dishwasher broke, The Princess handled it just fine. She still fed anyone who came through the door. Poor girl was living my life!
I always come home from one our visits feeling like I have failed to give enough time to people who are very important to me. I eventually come to the conclusion that there just isn’t enough time in the world, but it’s still hard to feel like I failed someone. I don’t think that feeling will ever go away.
I’m just glad I was able to see the people I love most in the world. I’m lucky they let me visit.
Filed under: My Chicago family
I watched ‘Gran Torino’ with Hubby last week. (Well, not all of it – please don’t tell me how it ends.) And in one scene, the characters are at a family gathering. The family is Hmong, and many generations are represented. There are old folks, teenagers, moms and dads, uncles and cousins. There is a ton of food, all kinds in mass quantities. Each room of the house is full of people and talking and laughter and loud voices. The kids run around underfoot.
It made me homesick. I want that. It used to be that way when I was a kid. I was lucky enough to hang out with my cousins all the time, and see my grandparents all the time. But I was also lucky enough to participate in those family gatherings. All the way up until I moved to Kansas.
I miss those gatherings so much. I’m trying to figure out a way to replicate that kind of party here. I am considering a party in the fall – a potluck with my friends from work, maybe Hubby’s friends. But I know it won’t be the same. It will be different. Maybe it will do.
In the meantime, I am totally looking forward to this weekend. Hubby and Bubba and I are going home to Chicago. He will hang out with his brothers (The brothers and the cousins!), and my sister is having a cook-out at her house. I’m bringing fajitas.
I can’t wait!!
Filed under: General bitching
I just looked at my website and realized that it had been an entire week since I wrote an entry. I was aghast.
For the one or two of you that read this, I’m very sorry. Life has been busy and so have I. And rally, nothing eventful has occured.
Except that O’Baby turned one and had many parties. And he’s walking 98% of the time now. And he wants to climb everything. And he’s cutting his molars.
Oh – and Bubba has rediscovered the joys of baseball. And he’s still swimming all the time. And we’re going to sign him up for boy scouts.
And the deck is pretty much paint-free now, so I have to sand and stain it. That way O’Baby can play with his new watertable out there.
Oh, yeah – and I got a raise because I promoted myself to an RNII. And I’m working on my RNIII. And I got the iritis again after being so sick for a week.
And it’s hotter than heck out here lately and I’m about out of things to do indoors with Bubba.
And Ed McMahon and Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson died.
I think that just about brings us all up to speed.
Take care.
Filed under: O'Baby
One year ago today, at 5:14pm, O’Baby was born.
I can’t explain to you how our lives have turned around COMPLETELY since he came into our lives.
Where there was fear, there is joy.
Where there were tears, laughing.
Where there were self-destructive behaviors, self-abuse and self-hate, there is now nothing but love.
Our O’Baby is nothing but love.
How lucky we are.
Thank you for coming and saving us, O’Baby.
How we all love you.
– I am sick. My throat caught fire Thursday night, just before my mom came to visit. Now my head is swolled up and my glands are swolled up and my sinuses are clogged and I just want to sleep. I called in sick for tomorrow. Bad employee.
– We had a nice time with my mom. O’Baby practiced walking with her, and we cleaned out the local toy store buying presents for O’Baby’s First Birthday (which is the 17th – can you believe it?!). Mom also watched Bubba burn leaves and listened to his three-day-long running monologue about golf balls. We visited Bro’s new apartment and met his roommate and gave him kitchen stuff. Mom saw how good a mother The Princess is, watched Bubba’s baseball game, and at a nice lunch on a restaurant patio. Good times.
– Hubby left for Chicago before god got up this morning. He’s visiting his family, then doing meetings tomorrow. He’ll be home late tomorrow.
– The Princess went to a ballgame today and has a farmer’s tan and a burnt nose. Good times in the outfield.
– Bubba and Mom and I went to the bookstore last night. It’s gratifying to see that I have passed my passion for reading down to my son. He can’t put down “The Boys’ Book – How to be the Best at Everything.”
– I have had it up to here with my deck and patio and yard. I can’t maintain our lush landscape on my own. I need help and I’m not getting any. I am thisclose to paying the handyman guy out of my paycheck to take care of deck repairs and powerwashing the paint off the deck. It would totally be worth it to me.
– I’m hot and cranky and sick and I’m done now.
Filed under: Pets
My brother’s dog passed away today. She was eight years old. He had raised her from a baby.
That’s what she was – a baby.
When he brought her home, he kept her in a cyclone-fence cage in the kitchen. Yep, my mom let him move the table out of the room so he could kennel the dog there. He kept this dog at his side constantly, training her with every motion or word. She could anticipate his every command, and would stop whatever she was doing in less than a heartbeat if my brother made a sound.
She was his shadow. They walked together, hunted in the park district woods and alleys. She was always perfectly behaved in public. Even when a large bully dog would try to instigate something with her, she would remain stockstill unless Greg gave her the go-ahead to defend herself.
She was gentle as could be with my sister’s babies, my children. She would ‘watch our backs’ when we slept over at their house during visits. She would curl up in the patch of sunshine on the front porch, following it with little movements so she was always warm.
When she was happy, she would run into the front room and ’slide into home’, lying on her back and wiggling around. She would pester Mom for a tiny bit of waffle with syrup and butter every morning. My brother would come downstairs and say, “Little, you smell like syrup. Did Mommy give you a waffle?” It was their little routine.
She would lie by my dad’s chair when he took his daytime naps. She would bark at him when he made ‘mouth noises.’ She would tolerate the other dogs that come to visit, only occasionally and decisively keeping them in line.
She was soft and shiny. She didn’t have an ounce of fat on her muscular body. She had a head shaped like a shovel.
She liked to play “Fist” and “Watch Out for the Pointy Stick.” She would occasionally make ‘monkey brains’ out of her stuffed animals.
She was loving and sweet. She was an American Pit Bull Terrier. She was beautiful and rare and wonderful.
We’re all going to miss her very very much.
Love you Little.
Filed under: Bubba
Bubba is doing much better today. I was holding my breath waiting for him to wake up this morning, worrying that the rash had spread, or both eyes were going to be swollen shut. But he looked much better.
No swollen eyes, no angry redness.
Still lumpiness and roughness and some rashiness, but much better. Thank god.
So he got to go out and look for golf balls in the wilderness behind the house. And burn leaves with the magnifying glass on the driveway.
That boy sure knows how to have fun, dontcha think?
Filed under: Bubba
Bubba is taking a day off. From the pool, from the sun, from nature, from outside.
Needless to say, he is not happy about this.
Friday he went to the pool with a friend. The friend sprayed Bubba with sunscreen and he jumped immediately into the pool. He got a sunburn.
Hubby took him swimming the next day. I noticed that night after work that the right side of Bubba’s face was swollen and rashy. He said it didn’t itch, but I caught him scratching it a few times. I gave him benadryl and advil before bed.
He and Hubby went swimming again Sunday. That night, it hadn’t gone away. And his right eye seemed a little swollen. More benadryl and advil.
Today, he woke up with puffy eyes, puffy face, rashy cheek. No more sun, swim or outside. We’re seeing a movie at 2pm and the doctor at 4pm.
Oh – also, Sunday Bubba got hit with a pitch on his thumb while he was holding the bat. It’s pretty swollen and cut up, but I don’t think it’s broken.
That poor kid needs a day off.
Filed under: Friends
My girlfriend’s breast lump biopsy was this afternoon.
It was a fluid-filled cyst. Thank God.
I had no idea I had been holding my breath all this time.
