Houses

Oh, in case you're wondering, yes, I'm still pooped from last week. Or maybe it was the not going to bed early. Or the getting up early to try to get my time in my Bible and prayer and exercise done early. Either way. Still pooped. It's the new me. Oh, wait. I've always been pooped.

Moving on.

Houses. Finally this week the Window-Replacing-Guy is here. No new windows yet, since they started with the roof repair and other such things. But the windows are in the garage, quietly waiting, and I have a little incentive to make sure our bedroom and the little boys room stays clean each day.

I'm most excited about the new windows because it means soon thereafter we can move on to new paint. New paint is more exciting than new windows because it's a real change. Our house will look different. The windows are nice, too, because they will open and shut, things our current windows either don't do, or only with much effort. And nice because they will keep more cool in (in the summer) and more warm in (in the winter), theoretically. The only sad thing about the new windows is we wanted the kinds with the little grilles in top half, but we COMPLETELY FORGOT to tell the Window Guy that. Until the windows were here. Totally our error. Now, if we decide we want grilles, we will need to get that clippy-on-the-insidey kind. I guess we'll see how it looks without. Our current windows didn't have them, either, so we aren't losing grilles, just not gaining them.

We're only doing some of the windows, because windows are expensive. And, for the most part, you end up with the same thing you had before, only slightly more energy efficient and functional. Likewise, roof repair is important, but you don't really get a big "wow, we've improved things!" boost out of them. You just get a roof that works like it was supposed to.

And yesterday when it poured sheets and buckets of rain, I remembered that, at some point, we'll need to do something about our dampy leaky basement. Which, again, will probably cost a lot of money and result in a basement that isn't nice and improved and decorated, just not leaky. Don't misunderstand, not leaky is good. But wouldn't it be nice if all our home costs could go towards improving, rather than just keeping things working the way they should in the first place?

Some things like painting I figure I should just eventually learn to do myself. Well, I do know how to paint, I just don't make time for it. But littler things, like replacing doors. Maybe I could learn to do that. Then I could make some improvements but maybe they would cost less. Unless you factor in the cost of effort and the stress of learning to do something new. I'm not so good at those things.

I did take a before picture of my house, so that when it has new windows and new paint you can tell me how improved it looks. I'll remind you to do so at that time. :-)

Still Pooped a Day Later

Yesterday we met some friends at a local lake. We went here occasionally when I was younger, but they've outfitted it with a nice spray park, brick and cement walk way, lots of tables, and a nicely combed beach (we got to see the beach combing machine, although why they waited until 10:30 a.m. on a hot day to comb it is beyond me. They had to comb around our spot (see mom station picture below)). But even better than the nice, improved beach was how much fun the children had.

Here's the mom station, sans-moms, before it became a well-used conversation arc.

I wasn't sure my youngest would really like the beach. But he loved every minute of it.

Sputnik also gleefully splashing:

Tobi-Wan showing his post-ball-toss-form (the ball was so well tossed it's out of the picture)

Noodle demonstrating the Reverse Watering Can Hookah Splash Phenomenon:

The boys participating in an Epic Water Battle:

Detail from above pic, Gark getting well sploshed:

Iliacat laughing at the antics of some of the boys:

There were also light saber battles, sand castles, plenty of sunscreen, trucks and toys and buckets, and lunch. What more could you ask for?

No wonder I'm still pooped, today.

Darkness Descends

Well, it's not really dark ... yet.

Our power went out! I don't know why. I called the automated line and reported it. No restoration updates. At least one neighbor said his was out, too. I did what I always do, stand in the driveway and look perplexed. I'm pretty good at it, really. Too few neighbors do that, these days.

I'm thankful for my Uninterruptible Power Supply, which beeps insanely but allows me a few moments to get the word out to the blogosphere. 'Cause for some reason you surely need to know we're out of power.

I guess I used it up.

Summer Tastes Good

Lunch today:

The salad is leftover from yet another picnic last night. I took the picture when it was fresh and pretty. It's not quite as fresh-and-pretty looking now, but it's still good salad.

Yum.

Gooooin' to a Picnic and we're gooooonna take Coooookies

did you sing that to the tune of "Goin' to the Chapel" ? If not, go back and sing the title to yourself.

Okay, thanks for humoring me.

We're off to The Grand Lunar's work picnic, just as soon as I get the little boys all in the same color blue shirts and get their grubby little hands as clean as possible. How clever of me to let them dig in the dirt to keep them busy while I finished getting the cookies ready to go.

Blueberry cookies? Who ever heard of such a thing?

And yet, that's what I made.

No one was allowed to taste them yet, so I can't tell you if they're wonderful yet. But the dough was wonderful (although I'm not saying how I know) and they sure smelled good.

We'll keep you posted.

'Cause that's my fun day ...

Everyone once in a while we do something just for fun. The whole family.

Today we went to Pizza Hut to use the library prize coupons the children had earned. The best part of that - even more exciting than the coupons - was the fact that the TVs in Pizza Hut were OFF. Blank. Wonderful! I hate those things. The worst part was that I came home to look up the nutritional information for what I ate, and apparently our Pizza Hut has some secret unpublished underground menu. Either that or what I ate does not exist and I'm soon going to wake up with a hankerin' for Pizza Hut. I should've known by the TVs being off that it was just a dream!

But wait, there's more!

After Pizza Hut (apparently I dreamed?) we went to a nearby town to play miniature golf on a lovely outdoor course with waterfalls and water hazards actual grass and rocks and landscaping between the holes, not just different colored astroturf. The children were amazed. Not that we golf at the other kind much, but that's all they could recall. We really rarely go miniature golfing.

With eight balls in play, and no phenomenal players, we did not move through the course very quickly.

Some people behind us swooped around, while many other times we sat out and let someone else go ahead. It started out breezy and overcast, and by the end was breezy but sunny and noses were beginning to turn pink. I hadn't thought to bring sunscreen, for some reason.

Here are some highlights from the event:

The Grand Lunar helping Buzz putt:

Buzz accepted this help exactly twice. Thereafter he exercised his Rights As The Youngest to hit his ball his way, carry it to where he wanted, and, place it right next to the hole to putt it in. Which, actually, moved the game along a little faster, so none complained. Here he celebrates his excellent putt:

Eminoodle, also celebrating an excellent putt:

The Grand Lunar showing us proper form and follow-through with one of his many excellent putts:

Here's where I made everyone line up and squint into the sun for a picture:

Being the camera-carrier, there are no pictures of me. Which, today, was a good thing, because windy miniature golf courses are quite the opposite of pools in their toll on curly hair. I left the house this morning with pretty good hair going on, but a few hours in gusty wind with unsecured hair did not make for a good hair day in the end. Here is a picture of my hair doing it's best Heat Miser impression, as seen in my shadow. Whether the wind is blowing it, or it's just stuck up like that from all the wind, I'll leave you to guess.

Homeschool Taboo

In which I say what no good home-schooler would ever say...

I hate the library.

Well, actually, I like the library itself. The building. Cool air conditioning, quiet places, lots of lovely resources and books.

What I hate is how we check out books and misplace them. Everyone is excited to go to the library, but no one is excited to go get their books to return them. In the excitement to get the Library Summer Reading Challenge prizes, we made the mistake of returning "a few" each visit, and checking out many more.

Now you might be thinking, "You should have a limit on how many each child can check out!" -- we do. But 5x6 = 30 books. Not too unmanageable.

But 30 books minus "a few" plus another 30, minus "a few more" plus another 30 equals way too many. Especially when very few are returned in the "a few" ...

Now you might also be thinking, "you should have one place in the house where library books live!" -- we do. Except those "in process" of being read. Which, astoundingly, in the excitement of the Library Summer Reading Program, didn't make it back to their home, but lived in their new home, under a child's bed, or behind a dresser.

And now you might be thinking, "Well, it's really their responsibility to find them on the days you go back." -- yes, yes it is. But there comes a time when there are 38 books on your overdue list, and fines of 10 cents a day per book looming, when the kids claim that they have "looked everywhere" when a mom has no choice but to step in and crawl under beds herself.

Crawling out with dust bunnies in her hair, bits of yarn on her pants, and a growing resentment of the library. And a handful of "unfindable" books.

I think from here on out I'm going to make the kids write their own books.

Pool Hair

Would it surprise you to know I like my pool hair?

Oh, not when it's wet.

But sometimes ... not always ... when I get my hair wet at the pool and it dries while I'm sitting on the side talking to another mom, all my curls fall into place together. Big fat bouncy ringlets, not unlike the girl in the TRESemmé ad ... I can not make my hair do that at home. I even bought the TRESemmé curl goo. I didn't by the whole line. Maybe that is my problem. I have a hard time believing the shampoo and conditioner are really all that different from any other shampoo and conditioner. And I have a cupboard full of wishful thinking curl-oriented gels and potions, so I didn't buy the special gel. There is also a 'revitalizing spray' and maybe that's what I need. I just got the goo. But that doesn't explain how pool hair works.

What's in a pool? Water. And perhaps too much chlorine. (We won't think about what else might be in the pool) All of which (that would be water and chlorine) I can get right out of my tap here at home. Why buy the fancy 'revitalizing spray' ?

And yet. If I put my pool-like tap water into a bottle and spritz my head until it's quite wet and let it dry, here at home, what happens? It's fuzzy and the curls don't sproing. Why is that not the same?

Occasionally, at home, I get to half-sproingy. Almost sproingy. With not too much frizz. And I call that a good hair day. And it's okay as long as it's not windy, nor do I sleep on it (which means I have to choose between a nap and continuing good hair, sometimes it's a hard choice), nor do I fiddle with it too much. The more I touch it, the more the good hair slips away.

Rain hair, like pool hair, often (but not always) turns out well. Occasionally when caught in a downpour, I have some excellent curls going on.

Why is it that showering, leaving my hair very damp, and letting it dry here at home doesn't result in pool hair or rain hair or TRESemmé hair?

My kingdom for sproingy hair ... but I really don't want to have to go swimming every day to attain it.