Drenched in vomit

Great title.

That's what happened to me yesterday afternoon.

My son was invited to a bowling birthday party for one of his friends from preschool. After dropping him off, I was going to take my daughter wherever she wanted to go to spend time alone with me. She wanted to go to Einstein Bagels and get two bags of potato chips (one for her and one to bring back to her brother). Then she wanted to go next door to the health food store and get ginger-pumpkin cookies.

We left my son, N, at the bowling alley, and got back into the car to go to the bagel place. As we stepped into the bagel place she started screaming about something. It took me a moment to figure out that she was saying she was going to puke. We immediately left the store, and I asked her if she wanted me to carry her to the car. She did. Half way to the car, she threw up all over both of us. Fortunately, she hadn't been eating any dairy so the smell wasn't too bad. Had it been, I'd have been ill, too.

I stripped her of her nasty dress and left her out in the 100-degree heat in just her diaper while I found her diaper wipes. I tried to wipe the vomit out of her hair to no avail. I was able to wipe off her arms and legs. My shirt was covered, and it had soaked through my bra. I would have loved to have removed it all, but since I'm not a man, I imagine it would have been illegal. I just did my best to wipe my clothes off. A little got on my pants and a little got on my shoe. Mostly it was on my shirt and arm.

After we were wiped as best I could, we went back home. J (my daughter) fell asleep in the car. I needed gas, and since she was asleep, I decided to fill up while she was asleep. Then we went home. I was able to get her in her bed without waking her up. Then I took a shower, cleaned my shoe, and threw the rest of our nasty stuff in the washer.

Shortly before I had to go pick my son up from the birthday party, my husband came home between appointments. He was able to stay with J while I got N so that I didn't have to wake her and bring a sick kid into a bowling alley. My husband left for his appointment as soon as N and I got back, and J woke up fine about half an hour later. She's fine now, too.

We went to playgroup this morning, and after playgroup, I took both kids to the bagel place to get potato chips, and then we got a box of ginger-pumpkin cookies at the health food store.

Until yesterday, I had never been puked on in public, and I had never been puked on so thoroughly.

Busy

I'm not sure if we hit 100 °F today, but we were supposed to. I spent most of the day indoors, waiting for the tow truck to pick up our old truck and take it to the repair shop. A tow truck was supposed to arrive by 1 p.m., but they were so busy and had break-d0wns, so another company got our case. The tow truck didn't arrive until almost 4:30 p.m.

I called my mom today. I hadn't spoken to her in a while. She had called me a few times since my visit. I was waiting for her to call again, but she didn't. She thought I was mad at her because I hadn't called. I wasn't mad--just lazy and busy. I was waiting for her call.

My husband's office person is on vacation this week. I've got lots of extra paperwork in the evenings in order to keep everything caught up. Yesterday I did part of payroll and some invoicing that I don't normally do. Today I had to enter some invoices that had been left with customers and finish payroll. Tomorrow I know I have to prepare the last deposit of the month, but I may have to do more invoicing. That seems to take forever.

The heat has been hard on my husband since he works out in it all day. He came home looking very old and tired. He fell asleep for a while before making a sandwich for dinner. Fortunately in two days the heat should break.

One of my friends is having a get-together at her house tomorrow evening for drinks and a movie. The idea is to leave the kids with daddy and get some time by ourselves. Unfortunately, because of the extra paperwork I need to do, I will be unable to go. Too bad it didn't fall on a different week, when catching up on work the next night wouldn't be so tough.

Lower humidity

We were still in the 90s today, but the humidity was much lower. It was a pleasant day to be in the yard compared to how it has been.

Today we went to the place we get our chickens and rabbits, and K got a pair of New Zealand rabbits we reserved a couple months ago. They are plain, white rabbits with red eyes.

We had salisbury steak for dinner, and the kids actually ate dinner. It was quite a surprise.

Tomorrow and the next day are supposed to be 100 °F. We are having sandwiches for dinner. I don't want to use the oven much. I might make some soup in the crock pot, but I'll put the crock pot outside in the screen porch.

Our old, junker truck won't start. I'm supposed to get it towed to the mechanics this week. That truck is always causing trouble. It was running poorly two weeks ago so we took it to the mechanics and they said nothing was wrong.

It finally rained!

We got 1.4 " of rain in the night. My husband has a rain gauge, and he tracks such things. There didn't seem to be much pooling in the morning. We needed the rain very badly so it all soaked in.

I finished reading the new Harry Potter book this afternoon.

My son is trying to read this over my shoulder and it's very annoying. He's even getting some of the word right. Another year and his reading will be so good I'll have to kick him out of the computer room when I use the computer.

We haven't done a lot today. I made a supermarket run to get popsicles for the kids. I picked some vegetables from the garden. I read my book. I read to the kids. I made lunch. J and I talked to our neighbor at the fence.

Dinner wasn't great. We had ham, cheese, and pepper omlets. We have way too many eggs right now, so I decided to get rid of some. None of use espeically likes omlets. J slept through dinner. I'll probably make her scrambled eggs when she wakes up.

Yes, it's summer

I see in the 7-day forecast that the hottest day will be Monday with a high of 100 °F. That will be a miserable day.

My kids were at "summer camp" again today, and I had a very pleasant lunch with my friend. It was fun to sit and talk in an air-conditioned restaurant with no one pulling on me and yelling, "Mommy!"

Tomorrow I go to my annual ob/gyn appointment. It was just a coincidence, but it fell during their "summer camp." This is much better than last year, when my son was four, and the doctor had to make him sit in a chair in the corner while she did her stuff. This year I have more friends who are home with kids, and I could probably impose upon one of them to babysit for the lenghth of a doctor's appointment had it not fallen during "summer camp."

I put two tomatoes I grew in my garden into a salad today. They are so much better than the ones I get at the store that it's hard to believe they are the same fruit. I picked a hard squash this afternoon, but it needs to cure for a couple weeks before I use it. I'm not sure how to tell if it is ripe. I hope it is. It hasn't grown in a long time.

My vases are overflowing with zinnias. They bloom much longer if they are cut or deadheaded, and cutting them for vases is much more pleasant then deadheading them after their blooms start to die. Fresh flowers, fresh fruit, and fresh vegetables are the things I love the most about summer.

My daughter fell asleep just after dinner. My guess it she'll wake up around bedtime and refuse to go back to bed.

Summer

It was hot and humid yet again today. I spent most of the time in the house, where it is air-conditioned. I did go for a walk this morning at a local park after dropping my kids of at "summer camp."

I also got a new pair of sneakers this morning (actually they are running shoes, but I would only run if someone was chasing me). It is much easier to shoe shop without my kids.

I'm trying to bring a stock pot of water to a boil to blanch my soybeans. I also have to get some laundry folded and more dumped into the dryer.

Tomorrow I'm meeting my friend again for lunch.

Yet more humidity

I went out to get the newspaper around 8 a.m., and the heat and humidity nearly knocked me on my butt. Summer in the south!

I've harvested and eaten my first tomato of the season, and I have three more on the way. I've picked them before they were fully ripe. I don't think they'll taste as good by doing that, but if I leave them out until they get red, the cardinals (and other birds) will start pecking them. I hate having half-rotted, pecked tomatoes.

My husband has taken the kids down the road to the creek, and they are exploring. I don't think they've been down there since the last rain. They usually come back with interesting stories such as seeing signs of beavers or otters or perhaps finding turtles. Once I saw a beaver down there. I covered the kids with bug spray before they left since the mosquitos are getting pretty bad right now.

K and the kids extracted honey yesterday. They did it on our screen porch, but some of my floors inside are still sticky. We also saw the presentation about honey bees at the library yesterday. The kids were bored and far too young for it, but we all enjoyed seeing the observation hive.

We made it to church today. The kids were too hyper to behave well. Fortunately the service ended five minutes earlier than usual.

K picked all our soybeans. I'll probably cook some for lunch and then blanche and freeze the rest to eat as edamame later in the year. We didn't get a very good crop. K tried growing corn in with them, and they were shaded too much.

Tomorrow the kids begin their second and final week of "summer camp." I've got a lot of errands to run, and I can see I'll need to mop the floors again to remove all the honey residue.

Humidity

Humidity. That's pretty much the only thing on my mind as I sit here, typing and sweating. I suppose I could turn the air conditioning cooler, but I'm not sure it would do a lot for the humidity. Plus I'm too cheap. I keep the air as warm as I can stand it and the printer doesn't jam (humidity makes the printer jam). My husband has borrowed my dehumidifier for his honey extraction project, and normally I run it all day long in my bedroom in the summer.

Tomorrow K and the kids will extract honey from the frames. Also, we've signed up for a county class on honey bees at the local library, and we'll all be going to that in the afternoon. The presenter will bring an observation hive so we can see what the inside of a hive looks like. The kids and I have never seen inside K's hives.

I went to my friend's house today. We were there nearly four hours. She had a little kiddie pool set and a sprinkler the kids played with. I've invited her and her children over next Friday. We don't have any swingset-things like she does, or even a kiddie pool. I'll have to try to come up with stuff we can do outside even if it is hot and humid.

We had pizza for dinner. I actually ordered it instead of cooking a frozen pizza. It was much better. We almost never do that any more, but before I was a stay-at-home mom (when we were a two-income family), every Friday night was pizza night, and we'd have it delivered.

The new Harry Potter book comes out tomorrow. When the fifth book came out, I had a prepaid voucher from a local book store, and I got out of bed to get to the bookstore so that I could exchange the voucher for the book just after midnight. This time I didn't bother. I might try to get the book this weekend, but if it's sold out, I'll just wait until it's available. I'll enjoy reading it, but I'm in no hurry.

K is making hard boiled eggs. We have eggs and zucchini going out our ears. Perhaps I should try making a zucchini fritatta. Unfortunately, I'm the only one here who would consider eating such a thing.

Humidity

I think we were only in the upper 80s today, but the humidity was horrid. Sweat dripped off my face as I just walked through my yard this morning. I think it will be mostly in the 90s and just as humid in the days to come. I guess it's a typical summer.

"Summer camp" is half over now for the kids. They return for the second four-day week next Monday. I got my dining room floor mopped and my picnic table scrubbed while they were at camp, and I talked for a while to a neighbor. Perhaps next week I can paint the picnic table. I think I should dump some bleach on it first, though, because some of it is growing mildew.

Tomorrow we're going to a friend's house who has three small children. Hopefully the kids will be happy playing so my friend and I can sit around and talk.

Busy

I've got a moment to post before I'm meeting a friend for lunch. I've been quite busy since I got back from my vacation. I've gone to a beach on an inland lake a couple times with my kids and friends with kids. I got a bit of a sunburn even though I was slathered in sunscreen and added a t-shirt part of the time, but that was last week.

This week my kids are gone four half-days a week to "summer camp" at the preschool my son went to and my daughter will go to in the fall. Yesterday the big thing I got done while they were gone was getting my car's oil changed. I hate doing it if I have to bring them along; they get so bored and unruly.

Today I was at my husband's office getting together the stuff for his monthly report to his corportate office. I had to run it by the post office to overnight it to the corporate office. Now I'm back home for just a moment.

It's been hot and humid here. We haven't had any rain since the remnants of Tropical Storm Cindy came through last week and left us over three inches of rain (thank goodness).

I'm appalled at the terrorist attacks in London last Thursday. I don't know if England has the death penalty or if it applies to terrorist, but I certainly hope so.

Yesterday I got stung by a wasp when I was out trying to find a few ears of sweet corn for dinner. My husband went out later and found the nest and applied apicide. It was painful, but I have no bee allergies so I'm fine.

I'm out of time. Gotta go!