A little dirt never hurt anybody, right?

Today was our student's end of the year picnic. It was nice; the weather cooperated, the kids had a great time, and my girls were able to come.

At lunch, Punky wanted to sit with my coworker's daughter, and I sat at a nearby picnic table. A little while later, Punky brought over her hot dog, and said, "I don't want anymore." She had eaten all of the ketchup off of the bun and taken maybe two bites of meat. This is not uncommon, for she doesn't have the best appetite and had been gorging on junk all morning. Being a good mommy, and not wanting to waste food, I ate her hot dog.


At dinner, she informed me that she had dropped her hot dog on the ground! Thank you, Punky, for letting me know, several hours after the fact.

Thundermonsters

In honor of all the rain we've been having, I thought I'd post the story I wrote for Punky a few years ago:


Deep and dark and damp and dreary, the wind does blow so soft and eerie. The raindrops plop and plop and plop, constant on my wet rooftop. Lightning turns the dark night sky brilliant as Fourth of July…
And in my bed I’m nice and dry.

Yet though I know I’m safe inside, I want to scream, I want to hide! For the THUNDERMONSTERS march tonight!

When they march, it’s awful loud. Though their noisy marching draws no crowd, they still bang and crash and yell and smash. Their noisy music fills me with dread; I feel it pounding inside my head (luckily I’m safe in bed.) The booming noise makes me shake; I won’t even eat my birthday cake! What noise these thundermonsters make!

And then…

Plop, plop, plop, the dripping seems to start to stop. The lightning’s gone. The air is still. A bird lands on my windowsill. The storm is gone, so is the fright. At least I can sleep tonight.

The storm is gone, turn out my light.

So Ready!

I am so ready to be off! The kids are going crazy! Too bad I only have week before summer school starts, but at least that's a four day week of half days.

Gollum at the Grocery

Yesterday when we were grocery shopping, I saw a little old lady(?) who looked just like Gollum from Lord of the Rings. Just give him a few more strands of snow-white hair, a striped shirt, and a pair of capris, and they would be twins!

I wish remembered I had my camera with me yesterday!

I don't know what to do with myself!

Punky graduated from preschool last week, and Marvin doesn't have to go into work until I get home. Everyone else is still asleep. I'm already dressed, and have my lunch made. I have the next thirty minutes or so to myself!

blah

I'm hormonal, grumpy, and tired. When I got home from work, I ate a bowl of chili with tortilla chips and then I ate a sandwich. This sandwich had crunchy peanut butter, nutella, bananas, and sea salt; I should probably call it something like the PMS special! Punky is super-moody; I wonder if she is picking it up from me?

I had a rough week, and I was told I might not have a job next year, but will find out a couple weeks before school starts. That's just fabulous! It did prompt me to apply to go back to school, so I am anxiously waiting to learn about two stressful things. I was told I wasn't able to work summer school, and then told I am able to work it. I think that even if I wasn't a raging ball of hormones, I would be emotional this week!

Mamacita

I do not believe the act of giving birth makes one a mother; rather I believe that is compassion and selfless love it what makes a mother!

The woman who gives birth and throws her baby in the dumpster, is not a mother. The woman who keeps her baby and neglects or abuses him is not a mother. The woman who uses abortion as birth control is not a mother. These women may one day learn to be a mother, but carrying a child did not automatically make that so.

The woman who gives birth and raises her child is a mother. The woman who adopts a child who is a stranger to her is a mother. The woman who loves and dreams for the baby in her belly that is never born is a mother. The woman who gives birth and realizes she can not provide a good life for her child and decides to put him up for adoption is a mother. Motherhood is not biological, it is emotional!

Visualization

I have been reading too much lately.

It is not the quantity of books I read that detirmine if I have "read too much," but it is rather how I read them. I will get into a mindset where I begin seeing the words that describe my life. I no longer ill see memories, I will see the words pouring out across a page as my life occurs.

I know what you are thinking: Jessie you are nuts!

I guess it is like an internal narrative, if that makes me sound a little more sane.

As the early evening sun eased through the window, I lay nestled in the coffee-bean cushion soaking in the rays. The girls came quickly to me as I set down my novel.

First, Scout, crawling wildly initially, then slowly rising like a clumsy circus bear stumbling into my arms. She nuzzles into my neck and her gentle blonde hair rubs my cheek as she settles into my lap.

Then comes Punky, more gracefully, but just as savagely. She leaps onto the pillow, and for a moment, we all flounce into the air. Shrieks of laughter fill the living room. My arms are the wings of a hen wrapping around her chicks as we settle into our cozy saddle-brown nest.

My brain is filled with plenty of these memories where the words are recalled before the scene. Oh well, it doesn't really matter how I remember, so long as it is!

Ants in my Pants

What is the best way to make your new neighbors think you have lost your mind? Begin throwing all your clothes, blankets, and laundry hamper out of your window on to your patio below! The following are the events that led to my apparent loss of sanity:


All week, the student I work with was adamant that "on Thursday, Ms. Jessica is going to get sick and never come back." He has proven to be somewhat knowledgeable about the future before, and one day broke down in tears saying he needed to call mom, at the approximate time she fell at home and broke her ankle.

Thursday was a rough morning to begin with. When I set my alarm, I forgot that I had to take the girls by my parent's house before work, so I was running late to start. However, I managed to get out of the house only two minutes behind schedule! Then I realized that I had forgotten the videos that I was supposed to show that day, and had to turn around. I was late for work. During first period, I felt myself get bit twice- once on the leg and once on the hip. I looked at my hip and it was swollen and purple! I excused myself to the restroom, and checked my thigh: there was a raised, red welt the size on my hand, and it was hot to the touch. I called my mom, who was coming up to the school shortly, and asked her to bring me benadryl. After I took it, the swelling went down on my hip, but not my leg. The school nurse looked at it and told me to "go to the doctor- TODAY! Call him now." Apparently MRSA is going around the schools! I went to the minute clinic where they checked it out, and it was not MRSA, yet. I had to go on a very high dose of antibiotics- four times a day! She also gave me a prescription for a cream to treat MRSA, if it got worse, but told me not to fill it yet. She said not to go back to work that day, so I headed to pick up Punky, who was having pizza with my mom and my brother's class.

On the way to the pizza place, less than a block away, my car stalled in the middle of an intersection. I couldn't get my hazards to work at first, and I had Scout in the car. I frantically called my mom, as I repeatedly tried to get my car to start. She ran out, and together, we pushed my all-American steel station wagon across the street into a parking lot. During this test of brute strength, I hit my eye on the door, and cut it!

That afternoon, I went home, and began taking the antibiotics, which did help my leg. However, it also made me nauseous. I didn't feel great, but at least I did not have to go to work on Friday.

Friday evening, Marvin went to work, and I went upstairs to change clothes, because, by this time, I had thrown up twice, and wasn't feeling great. It was then that I discovered thousands of fire ants in my clean laundry and swarming all over the floor. I called maintenance, who told me the grounds people handle bugs, and they probably wouldn't be in until Monday. "Why don't you go buy some spray?" "Because my car is broken down, and my husband works overnight!"

I had to get these ants out- now! I had already been bit a few times and was having an allergic swell. Since they were mostly infesting my clothes, I figured to best way to get the ants out, was to get the clothes out. So I opened the window, popped out the screen, and wildly began throwing anything that the ants touched out the window! Socks and jeans rained down! T-shirts were hanging from my gazebo! I vacuumed all that remained and took out the canister. I made the decision that the girls and I would sleep downstairs to avoid any unwanted bedfellows. I then proceeded to spend the next six hours puking my guts out!

I did gather all my clothes in a basket, but they remain on my back patio, until I can drown all those little buggers in my washing machine!