Three Things Thursday -

Chris is now a licensed driver! He was able to experience the test at two different D MV test proctors – the city (hard & grouchy) & the country (easy & forgiving). We were so thrilled for him. On his first full day with his license, he drove himself to work, went to the hair salon & got his hair cut, & drove himself home. (Cue choirs of angels!) His friend Christian is moving back to Germany & we are going to buy his car so that Chris will be able to drive himself to & from school. (I am secretly plotting what to do with extra hours every day.)
On Tuesday, July 26th, Chris will get his braces taken off. He will be able to remember them for the next ten years because that’s when he will renew his license and we will be able to finish paying for the rest of his dental work. He still has a bunch of dental stuff to happen in his mouth but getting his teeth in the right place is a great start!

Babies are the best thing ever! One of my good friends had a baby on Sunday morning. I was able to go to the hospital later that day & spend time talking to her & holding her sweet baby. There was a special spirit there in the room as I met someone so fresh from Heavenly Father. Her feet were frequently folded up above her belly button – just like she was squished in her mom’s tummy. She was the newest baby that I ever remember seeing besides my own – and then I was in a daze after pregnancy, childbirth, & delivery. I can see the appeal of being a grandmother. (More on that ahead…)
Her mom was AMAZING & ran several miles several times a week until the day before she delivered. She is a rock star!!


Ryan was attacked by a spider. Lesson learned? Mom really does know best. Ryan, Michael, & Jared were all outside playing basketball. Michael was the only one with any shoes on. I mentioned that the kids might want to get their shoes on because they could get bad infections (MRSA, etc.) from open wounds on their feet. “Yeah Mom, whatever!” Within the next five minutes, Ryan came running into the house, screaming & jumping up & down, & hollering that a spider bit him. He felt something on his foot & looked down to see a big grey & black spider on his foot. He shooed it away & it bit him. Wolf spider bites are VERY painful but not venomous. His toe quickly swelled up as big as his thumb. He sat & iced it & then we visited the pediatrician. The pediatrician’s visit was uneventful until the part where he said, “I guess you have learned that you need to listen to what your grandmother says!!!” OK, I might be 10-15 years older than the pediatrician, but I am not really old enough to be Ryan’s grandmother unless I had his mother at age 15 & she had him at age 15. I was so … humiliated? personally deflated? OLD? … that I made an appointment with my hairdresser & had my coloring & hair cut updated to look like I am Ryan’s mom instead of his grandmother.

We found this lovely black widow (red belly & all) in the backyard under the wheelbarrow a few months ago. Luckily, Ryan didn’t come in contact with her. Notice the ruler? She was ENORMOOUS!

Seriously?

Last November I brought home a shiny new scratch-and-dent refrigerator from Sears. 29.0 cubic feet & a bottom freezer drawer. The freezer drawer has had some issues & while I was on a cleaning frenzy last week I noticed that I have a one-year warranty. I called Sears & made an appointment – today from 1-5. I stayed home today – which isn’t all that unusual as a StaY-at-Home mom – but I wanted to get fresh South Carolina peaches from the peach stand, the boys wanted a new Risk game because lots of pieces are missing, & I wanted to deliver a couple of cute new dresses to my friend for her baby.

At 4:40 p.m. the repair service calls & says, “I probably don’t need to come out. I’ll just order the part for you.”

SERIOUSLY???

You could not have called me earlier in the day & let me know?

What if I took the day off of work?

My food has been out of the freezer drawer & in coolers for the last five hours waiting for you to show up & fix things.

And now it won’t even be fixed because you are only now going to order the part.

LAME.

… Update?

Yes, we realize that it was inconvenient for you to stay home & wait for us to call you to order the part. As a bonus, let’s just send you the wrong part!!! Still no resolution – “there was a glitch!” – another drawer ordered today. Hopefully, it will really come.

Wordless Wednesday (7-8-11)

Three Things Thursday (plus one)

I didn’t get around to my Three Things Thursday post so I’m posting one more thing and one day later. (It could reasonably be called Four Things Friday but I was trying to start something new last week. This could be similar to the new holiday traditions that get started & then fizzle out after one year for whatever reason.)

THING # 1: The boys really, really love to play basketball this year. They spend many hours every day shooting baskets & playing games (P-I-G & more). Our neighbor is NOT fond of them playing basketball (or parking in front of his house!) & makes frequent comments. Yesterday, he said, “Basketball season is over! You should be playing baseball!!” Jared quipped back, “Yea, but I like basketball!” He can’t growl at Jared in quite the same fashion as he does Ryan.

 

THING #2: We are trying to make progress in scouting over the summer. Chris has everything done for his Eagle project except putting the packet together & two partial merit badges. We went to the downtown library (with genealogy room) yesterday & looked up our ancestor who actually lived in Greenville county, South Carolina! While walking the stacks & perusing books, we found a book called Pocahontas’ Descendants. Jared is pondering why his name is not include in the book even though he IS related to Pocahontas.

THING #3: We have been spending some time at the pool each week. I have good friends who spend lots of time every day at the pool. I admire their tenacity but I just get hot & grouchy & sunburned when I spend too much time there. We went last week with our neighbor (Michael) & three kids from baseball (Kennedi, ALec, & Austin). We had a good time. I was trying to get the kids to do the Synchronized Running Leap pose but Ryan has decided that he’s too cool to be photographed & he quickly jumped in.

THING #4: In a series of exciting events, we have had several things go wrong in the last few months. You may remember the incident of the flying trampoline times two, the transmission that can never be properly repaired, the debit card that was skimmed, and the forever-at-Lake-Jocassee lost camera. Now, we have an air conditioner that spilled water onto the hardwood in the basement. Because we don’t live in the basement, it took 24-hours before we found it & it was quite a mess! Luckily we have an extra box of hardwood & nothing totally disastrous happened. However, it’s just ONE MORE THING!