Finally- some rain. It's one of those great spring rains where everything smells good. It's wicked cold, though, but not that raw fall cold. It's a great morning to skip church and lie around in my pajamas and make pancakes...and do laundry and go buy Molly some sandals and clean house and...

apparently, call a locksmith since Harry has locked the bathroom door with all of us outside of it- and now he has to go to the bathroom. Karma much?

1. There's a bran-spanking-new composter perched next to my house.
2. My seedlings are enormous- not even seedlings, almost full-fledged plants! I will pot up tomorrow!
3. The daffs are up and blooming.
4. Birds birds birds
5. We *might* hear peepers tonight.
6. Harry doesn't have chicken pox.
7. Harry and TMOTH have school vacation next week- meaning lots of QT for the two of them.
8. My assistant says we just might make the budget after all.
9. Pizza for dinner tonight.
10. 80 degrees today. 80! wOOt!
11. New Haircut
12. Pansies
13. My summer clothes still fit.
14. It's April! April! That means NO MORE SNOW!!!!

I know it's spring because my lawn is covered with leaves. Crocuses and tulips, too, but leaves mostly. This is a mystery to me. I raked the leaves last fall, snow covered the ground in 8 foot piles all winter, and now- when the snow melts- there are zillions of gooey, wet, matted leaves in the yard. How did this happen? Do leaves someone generate out of snow, in some sort of crazy parthenogensis?

And, to stay with this theme, how is it that I can rake the aforementioned leaves for 2 hours, and then look into the yard to see the same number of leaves that were there when I started? Somehow, I've raked, wheelbarrowed, and piled leaves for two hours, filling trash cans and bags, and yet these leaves have someone re-generated in their exact previous spots. Really? This is possible?

Yeah- you read that right. Snow Day. April 28 and we've got a foot of new snow and school's canceled. My original plan for today- stay home and nurse my bad cold so it doesn't get worse, has been thwarted by the addition of two munchkins and a TMOTH. Just as well I suppose but dang...who would have thought we'd have a snow day at this point?

That reminds me- must turn on grow light. My poor babies will probably spend their whole plant-lives under that light, now that the next ice age is upon us...

and my invisible jet seems to be in the shop for repairs. TMOTH has been up to his hiney in lesson planning, grade cards, and general school stress, making him less than available recently. The result is that I find myself wandering around in a daze, muttering, "laundry- no, dishes- no dinner- no, kids need baths" while accomplishing none of the above. Today being Tuesday, I launched into Wonder Woman mode this morning, made it to the gym, to the shrink, to the grocery store, and to Target before wrapping up my day "off" with 45 minutes of library volunteering before picking Harry up. Now? I'm done. My golden bracelets are scratched, I've lost my crown, and my perfectly-coiffed 'do is limp. I'm ready to be Diana Prince for a while. I have time for one cup of tea (Tension Tamer- nectar of the gods in the pre-cocktail hours) before we're off to get Molly. The weather is lovely, so that means the kiddos will want to play at her school before heading home- good for the moment, bad in the "post-arrival home" times period, since they'll be hungry as hell and I won't have had the time I usually spend to fix dinner- since I'll burn that time on the playground. Sunny days are so rare though that I don't want to waste this one. It's very "All Summer in a Day" around here this time of year and I'll be dammed if my kids will be the ones locked in the closet- you know?

H is being evaluated once again by the Occupational Therapist, though it was a relief to meet with her and the teacher and hear the OT say that he doesn't seem to be struggling as much as the classroom teacher imagines. Methinks his teacher doesn't know what to do with my wiggly(though I've started calling him "effervescent"), wicked smart little boy. It's surprising to me that someone who's been at it this long would be thrown by a smart kid, but Harry can be surprising at many junctures- code for "I never know what that damn kid's going to do or say." Today's discovery? King Cobras. They're BIGGER than regular Cobras! And MORE DEADLY! And cooler all around because they could beat a Black widow or a tarantula or even GODZILLA in a fight! In 6 weeks, I'll know more about King Cobras than any grown woman should.

Tea's nearly gone, Molly's waiting, and I still have to put a load of laundry in. Time to polish my bracelets and zip up my knee boots.

Let me know if you find that lasso? Thanks.

Okay- maybe that's a fib. We actually have a blue sky this morning. The kids are acting like vampires- frightened by the sun streaming in through the front window. A bird was singing this morning and Molly froze in her tracks when she heard it, turned to me very slowly, and whispered "Mama, what was that NOISE?"

I defy anyone to say this hasn't been the longest, coldest, darkest freaking winter in history. Well, since the Ice Age- that was probably longer. Not colder, but it gets points for duration.

Molly has a playdate this afternoon. I'm dreading it with a fiery passion because the mom is- how can I say it?- less that chatty. Nothing more awkward than watching your kids play (yes, kids. Harry has to go because he has no school and I have no place to leave him) in uncomfortable silence. The upside is that they sugar, so Molly's all excited to see the process. Harry did tons of that stuff at his pre-school, but Molly's preschool doesn't do it. Of course, once she sees where maple syrup comes from, she'll probably decide not to eat that either.

TMOTH set up the grow light last night, so my seedling babies are going to start growing like crazy...or a neighbor will see the glow and turn me in for growing pot. Which I'm not. Growing pot. Not at all. (In case law enforcement is doing searches for words like pot, marijuana, hemp...oh hell.)

The point is? I'm only growing flowers and vegetables. No herb. Well, lavender, but that doesn't count. Just Cosmos, petunias, tomatoes, peppers...all the normal stuff. Nothing to see here. Move it along.

Harry's second parent conference is this afternoon. This is one that *he* leads. I"m sure it will be a trip. Especially considering that his OT/ASD conference is next friday- that's the one where they'll tell us why our kid (the one multiplying, reading words like "performance" and wondering why some eclipses make the moon blue) needs to be in Special Ed. Nothing wrong with the system- oh no. Just with our kid.

Last night I spent 2 hours sitting on the floor of the multipurpose room at Harry's school, watching Air Buddies (a classic film experience, I swear), eating cold pizza and arguing about weather Harry could actually be hungry after 3 pieces of pizza, 2 bags of popcorn, a bagel and a Capri Sun. At the end of the evening, I concluded that the PTA is trying to destroy me- to weaken my resolve to the point that I'm open to their diabolical plan and join them.

Which I did- this morning at Molly's dance class when PTA mom J mentioned that they needed someone to help the fund raising chair. Before I knew it,I'd scrawled my e-mail address on the back of a gum wrapper, entranced somehow by the notion of spending hours adding up checks and sorting out wrapping paper, bulbs (both light and flower) and chocolate sold to fund the nefarious purposes of our local chapter of Satan's Gal Pals.

Then I came home and sewed Molly's Easter dress- totally forgetting that she has two- TWO- Easter dresses upstairs in her closet, both of which were too big last year. Just as well, because I apparently mis-measured and the dress is big enough that Harry could wear it, should he choose to. (Though pink polka-dots aren't really his thing.) So now I have *next* year's Easter dress all set, thus continuing the self destructive spiral of year-to-year sewing. And forgetting.

and it's a balmy 0 degrees outside- up from 10 below this morning! Yippee! Sounds like playing outside weather to me! And we're going to get more snow- which we *desperately* need. Really. Honest. Actually, I'm a little afraid to start my seeds, only to see them wither and die when I'm unable to plant them because of the remaining 18 inches of snow we're going to have in July. H and I are going to take the kids to the dump this morning (to dump recycling, not kids- no matter how crazy they may be making us) and then to run around at the gym in order to burn off the energy that they *won't* be burning outside due to the encroaching ice age. Imagine I'll head home this afternoon in order to welcome the returning TMOTH, fresh from his conquest of the looming peaks of New Mexico. Or Utah. Or wherever. Doesn't matter so long as he's coming home to relieve me of the responsibility of keeping my children and myself alive singlehandedly. (Case in point, Harry just informed me that his brain has a rash. Where does someone pick up a rash like that? Sounds like poor mental hygiene to me.)

The February break experience ("deathmarch" seems strong, you know?) continues. Got up to H's last night- unbelievable, intimidating, frightening, unholy amounts of snow up here. Seriously. The snow is 6" higher than the ede of the porch. In places, it reaches the trees. It's like nuclear winter. Or the re-glaciating of the earth. And it's still snowing. Sheesh.

Sledded, made a snow fort, threw snowballs- all the normal winter stuff- yesterday. This morning the little boys are on the playstation first thing in the am, Molly's plugged into JoJo's Circus, and I"m thinking I"m going to pass out from exhaustion. Note to self: Never share a bed with a 4 year old. They kick and squirm and take up the whole damn bed. Thank heavens I"m up here where there are new and novel forms of entertainment.

Now I must fix breakfast for Molly and try to imagine a world in which I'll be funcional all day. :::Yawn:::

TMOTH left for his 40th-birthday skiing trip today at 2 am. So now, until Saturday morning, I'm single mom. So far, a mere 6 hours into the day, the house is a shambles, we've blown my entire weeks worth of activities, and I"m considering opening a beer to get me through. Do you suppose that's a problem?

Stuff we've done so far:

Got up (I'm giving myself credit for everything, thank you very much)
got dressed (ditto)
fed everyone
Went to Michael's to buy yarn for Grandma's care package.
Mailed said care package
Went to the gym (thank god for babysitting)
Went out to lunch
Painted pictures

The kids have appointments with the doc this afternoon- Harry can't hear out of one ear and Molly can't see out of one eye, so unless I lose my voice (thus completing the "See no evil/ hear no evil/ speak no evil" motif) we're going to have do something about it. My theory? Molly has my bum left eye (which I have always had limited vision in) and Harry has squirted so much water in his ears (using the squirty bath tub toys) that he's just just flooded his eardrum. Neither is life threatening and I'm not terribly concerned- excpet that we have to go out in the looming Snowpocalypse (the 10th this winter by my count) to do it.

Post doctor, I'm figuring on make your own pizza and a movie with popcorn. after that, I've got nothing. I'm open to suggestions.

Harry's Haiku was published in his first-grade newsletter. I'm *just* lame enough to call that published. Want to read it? Of course you do.





Dragonflies
By Harry

speeding through the water
jumping up and catching bugs
here they come swerving

You know what? I didn't know that dragonflies eat bugs. Did you know that? I had to look it up. I'm choosing to believe that the lack of capitalization is an artistic choice. Truth be told, however, I think he just didn't want to mess with it.

Molly had a birthday party this afternoon and informed me with adolescent-like snark that she didn't need me to stay. Actually, she rolled her eyes when I asked her if she wanted me to hang around. Yes, ladies and gentlemen- 4 is the new 16. Wonderful. Her gift choice, however, is very much "4"- a pair of bunny slippers and a pad of princess stickers. I got off for under $10 on that one, making me Queen of the Birthday Party circuit.

I have no words. Just...go there now.

How is it that my family produces 3 loads of laundry between Thursday and Saturday, but only 2 loads between Sunday and Wednesday? Who is wearing more than their share of clothing in that 3-day span?

2 hour delay this morning, which means little considering that I DON'T HAVE TO WORK TODAY!! Whoot.

Grandma goes to rehab today, . It's a step up from the hospital, but her opinion of the move is exactly what you'd expect: "No, no, no."

My plan for today? Gym, Target, grocery store, toenails and knitting.

Ah, President's day. How I love you...

The week from hell is over. After driving a total 15 hours in the last 6 days (many of them in the icy, snowy, pre-dawn hours), the nightmare week is over. (Insert exhausted, unenthusiastic "whoot" here) Now all that's left is the cleaning up. TMOTH's finally back on his feet (sort of) after the back injury to end all back injuries and the kids have entered a *lovely* stage in which they actually want to help. (I know- who knew it was possible? They fight over who gets to set the table, who gets to refill the water cups...I feel like I'm in the twilight zone) Now if we can just a) avoid another snow storm and 2)dig out of the laundry nightmare that threatens to take over the house, we should be good.

Things I should do today:
Go to church so my kids don't grow up to be Republicans
Laundry so that we don't have to be naked tomorrow
Shopping for groceries so we can eat
Change beds to avoid visit from DCFS
Scrub floors (see above re: DCFS)
Cook for the week (ditto)
Send care package to sick grandma (sigh)
Play with kids (see above re: Republicans)

Things I will probably do today:
Laundry
Nap
Lie on Harry's bed and avoid playing with the kids by claiming that being in the same room *observing* their play is the same as playing with them
Lie on Molly's bed and play "mama's napping"

At least I don't have to work tomorrow. For some archaic reason, I have President's Day off. No on else in the world has President's Day off, but apparently my ultra-liberal employers view this as our token observance of right-wing values. I guess it's our small way of acknowledging that maybe some folks who work there might be republicans- though we shall never speak of it again.

Yawn

And yet again we have no school. It's a good thing that budgets run out on June 30, forcing school to close, or we'd be in school until August. TMOTH is flat on his back for the 3rd? 4th? day in a row thanks to a back injury incurred while playing basketball with guys half his age on Saturday. He's on major meds and yet *still* is not drugged enough to agree that I need to order a 50" plasma tv for the living room. I'm hoping to double his dose later and give it another try. Our wonderful neighbor is currently snow-blowing the mess from our driveway, thank heavens, and the waffles are done and I'm actually drinking a second cup of coffee out of a real mug. Life is very, very good. Think I"m going to order my seeds today and try to figure out how to set up the nursery in the back room. Now that Junior's gone, I can actually put my baby seedlings out without worrying they'll become kitty food. I miss the little monster, but sometimes cat-free life isn't so bad.

Molly takes dance lessons. She luuuuuves dance lessons. Every Saturday since August, I have faithfully schlepped across town (granted, it's only a 10 minute schlep, but still...)to the studio where she takes lessons from 9:45 to 10:25. This essentially *guts* my Saturday morning, but I do it because that's what I"m supposed to do, right? As a dutiful, loving, post-feminist mother, I'm supposed to let her explore anything that strikes her fancy, be it stereotypical little-girl stuff or not. Karate? Sure, I'd be in. Basketball? Bring it on. Just about anything short of Moster Truck driving or Figure 8 Trailer Racing would be okay with me. Even at $170 a term, I'm in. And up until this morning, so was Molly. We have two full sets of leotard/tights/dance skirt combinations (pink and black) as well as the requisit hair hoo-haws to decorate the bun/ponytail of the day. It's no mean feat getting ready to go, but we do it.

So this morning we got ready to return to class post- break. Not a peep from the little princess that she was having reservations, no sign that this would be any departure from the norm- until we go there. Then my leotard-clad princess launched herself into my arms, buried her face in my neck and refused to go in. My instinct was to shriek "I paid $170 for these damn lessons and you'll take them and you'll like them and you'll repay me with gratitude for my sacrifice!"

This, of course, would be counterproductive.

So I put on my best progressive-liberal-Birkenstock-wearing- Mama persona and did my best to get my kumbaya-ya on. I tried not to judge. I helped her name her feelings and reassured her that they were okay. I held her on my lap and we watched the class through the door. I pointed out all the kids she knew. I let her know she didn't *have* to take dance to make me happy, that we only came because she seemed to enjoy it. I asked if she wanted to quit. I reminded her that I'd love her no matter what. I held this together for 38 minutes while we watched little girl ballet through the glass door. Inside, I was steaming. I was thinking of the money, the time, the other things I wanted to do this morning that I *didn't* do so I could sit on this hard floor while other mom's around me pointed out in faux-support that "this sort of thing happens all the time! Of course, my little Lindsey/ Brittany. Bethany has always just bopped right in there, Thank God, and aren't you a saint for being so patient? I just don't know what I"d do..."

When they started the "good bye" song, I gave up. In the locker room, while taking of the full regalia, I pointed out to Molly that I was frustrated- still trying to keep my groove on- and not really happy and that I didn't want to come here every morning until June so that we could sit on the floor and watch other little girls dance. She assured me that this wouldn't be the case, that it was just *this* morning. (Of course, there was no apparent reason for this to be a problem today so I have no way of planning for next time.) In my imagination, I was piling all her dance things into a bonfire in the driveway, calling the receptionist to tell her that Molly's dance tuition could go to some little girl who was more deserving, locking her in a tall tower where she could spin or make tapestries until she'd learned her lesson...but I digress.

My oh-so-mature response? I wouldn't give her her snack in the car on the way home. Yes, I'm that mother. I denied my kid food because I was pissy. (I just can't justify a juice box and a cereal bar as necessary to refuel after *sitting on my lap* for 45 minutes.) Don't call DCF just yet- I fed her as soon as we got home. I even popped popcorn and put extra spray butter on it. And we debriefed yet *again*. If I talk about another feeling today, my head will explode.

The point of all of this? I can't do this for another 14 years. Seriously. I don't have the energy or the wisdom or the patience or- hell- the *desire* to dig this deep for the next 14 years. Bleh.

Remeber when my self esteem plummeted because Ed Leadership kicked back my previously-accepted piece? Well I'm full of ego again thanks to Kappan, my new favorite publication. Yup, they accepted my piece today. :::Laura does a happy dance::: So I have to agree with Susan and her award to me.


Give the award to those people whose blogs bring you happiness and inspiration and make you feel happy about blogland. Let them know by posting a comment on their blog so they can pass it on. Beware you may get the award several times.

I tag dianora2, snacktime, twinparadox, Anne, Tricia, md1016 and nelsonflytyer. We *all* rock- and we deserve a little sugar, metaphorically speaking.

Anybody know where I can get some golden bracelets?

Two-hour delay this morning. I don't think we've had a regular week of school since New Year's. One would *think* that a two- hour delay would mean sleeping in, having a fairly leisurely a.m....which is exactly what it's been for TMOTH and Molly.

Harry, on the other hand, crawled into my side of the bed at 6:40 pleading nightmare (code for: I don't want to be in my room and need a snuggle) which would have been fine if "snuggle" didn't mean "wiggle around and ask questions (Mama, how big is a new kitten? Mama, did you know yesterday was Chinese New Year? Mama, how old do I have to be to drink coffee?) until Mama finally gets up.

So now we're up. There's some snow, some sleet, some general yucky, and there's Harry playing baseball with his lunch box and building structures involving Legos and the contents of the aforementioned lunchbox (you haven't lived until you've seen a Lego- tortilla chip building. Very structurally sound- not to mention tasty.)

Man oh man- there's not enough coffee in the world to keep me going today. Suppose I should go shovel. Whoo freakin' hoo.

So, in the spirit of the Candidate-O-Rama's final night, I tried to upload the gadget from google that would have put up a live action update of the primaries.

It didn't work. Big surprise there.

On the other hand, I *am* willing to update my Candidate O Rama total to a whopping 205- a new high, thanks much- which I'm *certain* will be one of the top stories on MSNBC and CNN all evening. Seriously- it's a much hotter story than the candidates.

Seriously.