My brother got me this mug for my birthday a year and a half ago. I guess he meant it to be funny, but I really like the mug. It holds a good bit of coffee (or iced tea or water or whatever), and it is stable enough that the cat can't dump it over the way she does with any glass made of plastic that we leave around the house. If we leave one on the table at night, there is a water spill by morning, and she isn't even allowed to be on the table. She knows this and waits until we are asleep or not home.

I've caught Kate's cold. I hope it will be getting better soon; I've started coughing. Kate's still got slime all over her face. I don't and didn't, but it may be because I keep it wiped up as it comes out, or maybe it's because I haven't reached that point yet.

Next week I have an anatomy test at the testing center at my college. It will be a pain, but I hope it will go well. I'll take it after I drop K off at preschool. There will only be one more closed book test after this one left to take in the class. I think the class is about half done now.

Jury Duty Done

This is the first Wednesday evening since January when my jury duty began in which I didn't have to call the jury duty hotline to see if my number was being called for Thursday morning. It will make my anatomy class much easier since I no longer have to rush everything to completion Wednesday just in case I got jury duty on Thursday and couldn't do any classwork. In the two month period, my number only came up one time.

Bike Riding

Mr. K changed my bike's flat back tire yesterday. I assisted. He tightened N's handlebars, and he tightened J's seat adjuster. We took our bikes to the park today, and N, J, and I rode the trails for over half an hour. Mr. K and K with her training wheels rode for a little bit and then played on the playground.

White Camellia

My white camellia is starting to bloom! It doesn't usually work out well; as it warms up, the white petals turn brown even before opening.

Been Fishing

We made it fishing this weekend. I didn't even get a bite, but Kate caught a nice 15" bass. (She also caught a tiny one.) Mr. K baits the hook, casts for her, and helps her get it off the hook, but she does the rest. I don't think she knows how to set the hook, but sometimes it just happens on its own.

I feel buried under a pile of laundry

I think the girls "cleaned" their room this weekend by throwing all the clothing around their room that wasn't in the drawers or closet (clean or dirty) into the hamper. Then J left an open water bottle in her bed two nights ago so yesterday I had a couple loads of laundry spent cleaning her bedding so I didn't get to my regular stuff. Sundays are Mr. K's laundry day so I didn't get anything done that day.

Psycho

This is Psycho. The kids named her that because she looks like she a chicken we used to have (who may be her mother) that acted crazy so they called her Psycho. I called her Carmella, but I call this one Psycho. It's been her name since she was a baby that we raised in our livingroom. She was born at the same time as Fluffy.

Boy Scout N

N is at his Boy Scout meeting. He meets for an hour and a half every week. That's a lot more than he did when he was a Cub Scout. His answer to how his camping weekend was was, "good." There wasn't much enthusiasm there, though.

While N was camping, we spent time working on our gardens. I've got my peas, kale, radishes, carrots, and onions planted now. Tomorrow it may rain. If it does, then after that I'll expect my seeds to start to grow.

Use by May 2001

I was making a pork roast, and one of the ingredients was rosemary. I don't often cook with rosemary, but I did find some. My bottle said, "Use by May 2001." I used it on my roast anyway. After all, my mom is still using a tin of whole cloves from the 1960s, and no one has become ill yet. It just doesn't have much flavor.

In May 2001, I had just become pregnant for J. I'm sure I was throwing up a lot. The world was a different place; you could greet people on airplanes right at the gate (as N and I did that March when his aunt visited us). I didn't have any rental houses to worry me yet, but I had quit my job that January to stay home with N, and we were just finding out how much my lack of income would impact us.

It's Friday

I first caught the stories out of Japan when I got out of bed and tried to put the TV on to cartoons for K while I showered. The TV was on a network channel, and I watched the earthquake pictures with near disbelief. I made a point of catching the news this evening. It was, of course, very depressing.

K knows about it because she was in the room when I was watching the pictures this morning. I asked her after school if the earthquake was discussed at school. She said it wasn't. Mr. K has had her say a prayer for the people in Japan. N and J said their schools were discussing it.


*****

N is on a Boy Scout camping trip this weekend. He's on his own with his troop. None of us are there. J is going to sell Girl Scout cookies in front of a store tomorrow. Unfortunately, Mr. K has to work. I'll have to bring K with us, too.

Fat Tuesday

I guess it's Fat Tuesday. We are supposed to go to church for an all-you-can-eat pancake and sausage dinner that is a fundraiser for the Knights of Columbus. Mr. K decided this on Sunday. The question is, will he remember it when he gets home from work. I am assuming so and have not started dinner. If he's changed his mind, we'll have something easy like kielbasa and macaroni and cheese.

Tomorrow has to be a vegetarian dinner, although according to my mother-in-law's priest, chicken broth is okay as long as I don't use the meat. I think Mr. K isn't supposed to eat much food, either, but I think he ignores that (I think it's a day of fasting). I just ignore the whole thing except I make a point of not serving meat for dinner. I'll probably have some for lunch, though, since Mr. K doesn't eat lunch with me. Dinner will also have to be easy or in the crock-pot because the kids have martial arts lessons at school after school so I'll need to pick them up just before 5 p.m., which massively messes up my producing dinner. Maybe I'll do shrimp. If I have it thawed and shelled earlier, and if I get a big pot of water to boiling just before I leave so the water is very hot when I get home, I can probably put together something pretty fast with shrimp and pasta. Tuna noodle casserole is pretty quick, too. Ick.

Right notes, wrong tune

That's what N said to me when a tried to play a song with him on the recorder. He's learning the soprano recorder, just as I did in elementary school. Neither one of us has a drop of musical talent, but I studied the soprano recorder for about three years, and he's only on his second year so I play a bit better (which isn't saying a thing, really).

He had me try a song I've never heard of called "Old Brass Wagon." I can read notes to figure out what letter they are and I know the finger positions on the recorder that correspond to the notes, but I am horrid at how many counts go to each note and when to just run one note into the next or when to hold it extra long when it shows up twice in a row instead of tooting it out twice. I don't know what a beat or a measure is so the funny numbers by the treble clef are just meaningless to me. I have no rhythm.

That's when N made his comment, "You play the notes right but not to the right tune." N finally concluded that he doesn't want my help with the recorder.

I fixed my drippy bathroom sink!

I did the actual repair myself, but Mr. K had to shut off the water for me since it took more strength than I have in my hands to get the shut-off valves to start to close, and he had to unscrew the philips screw under the little cap on the handle because I wasn't strong enough to do more than strip the head with the screwdriver. After that, the rest was all my work. I replaced the valve seat thingy. I did it once before years ago and was amazed when it worked. I've had the part for about a year, but the leak didn't get bad enough for Mr. K to start complaining until recently. I decided to give it a shot myself to save the minimum of $90 just to get the plumber to show up.

Mr. K doesn't do much plumbing. He leaves it to me, but usually I lack the strength to break nuts (and screws) free so I have to get him to help.

Middle School

N is starting to get nervous about middle school. He'll be starting that in September. He thinks he's going to hate it and flunk out of it. I didn't realize that the transition from elementary school to middle school would be hard on him.