Lifesavers 101

did you know that if you bite down on a peppermint or spearmint lifesaver in the dark, with your lips open, that you can see the inside of your mouth spark up?

....guess what we were doing earlier tonight!

it all started with discussions between Mike and Christopher about how lightning storms work, and what other things sparked, and then the time from 4 PM to dark and bedtime couldn't get here fast enough. Christopher walked around with his lifesaver, waiting patiently, talking about it, anxious for the dark and bedtime to get here.

what I will say is, it apparently doesn't take much to amuse me these days! I can't wait to bite down on a lifesaver in the dark again! hee hee hee!

life is coming along, settling down, even though we are not fully settled. well, we did move out of the guest room and put our personal belongings upstairs in our new
bedroom, got Chris' bedroom about 80% setup with the little piggies also now residing happily in his room in their plenty-large enough house. we still need to get the alcove cleared of stuff and have his shelving unit assembled to hold his bins of toys, like his legos, train tracks, lincoln logs, etc. we think he really likes his new room, and he also likes being around his grandparents, getting to see his cousins up here from time to time, and knowing that we can go on road trips to see the other cousins. we still need to pack up a few things in our space and then get our own things arranged the way we like. in the meantime, we consider it like camping. at least we have our bed setup and comfy. sleeping is not a problem.

...well, sleeping is not a problem when the DANG SKUNK isn't fluffing his nasty tail and spraying the neighborhood with his odiferous funk. funky skunk, OMG, it's horrid! two nights in a row last Thurs and Fri, and then again last night. on Thurs, he sprayed so much, and so close (yes, we've actually SEEN him in the driveways, in the liquor store lot behind the property here, etc, he's quite large for a skunk!), we think he sprayed from the hedges outside our windows. well, he sprayed so much that it got "stuck" in the house, and gave me a headache! then, I couldn't get the smell out of my head, or out of the house. then, he sprayed again the next night. Mike's parents come back from being gone a couple of days, and they don't believe us, because, well, he must have decided to take a few days off for some reason. then, last night we moved the vehicles off the street (no one is allowed to park on the street up here at night, unless you have a permit. seems
the street cleaners come along on a regular basis) and we weren't in the house for 10 minutes and the little nasty critter sprayed again! we quickly shut the windows and then lit some matches to diffuse the spray funk. fortunately, a hail-storming thunder and lighting show came along and washed out the pheromones from the air. so far, tonight, no skunk.

and the only way to get rid of the problem of skunk funk is to do a live capture of the little guy and then have him relocated. if you opt to kill one, then you get the instant dead funk smell. I don't see how if you get a live trap that it would keep a skunk from spraying, but maybe if he can't lift his tail up all the way it may stop him? of course, all the instructions about ridding of the skunks include warnings to see if the skunk may be a girl and taking care of babies. if so, and if she leaves them too young, well, the stink problem could end up being even BIGGER than with the one skunk.

of course, we have a garage to clear things out of. while skunks often dig burrows or make homes in that sort of dwelling, it is also possible that one may have made a home in some of the spaces in the garage. there are things in this space from Nana's estate, from leftover garage sale boxes awaiting the next sale, and things of ours, like a tent and chairs, etc. in summary, too many things that have not been moved for months, and would easily be safe zones for critters. or cats. whatever lives or has marked territories here, there has been something in the garage. we know, because Maya says so. and a dog's nose Knows!

Christopher is doing pretty well. he's loving his bike, even though he hasn't been able to ride for about a week due to schedules and lots of rain storms. he's shown a renewed interest in learning how to write his letters and numbers, and beginner math, etc., which is great. we will be on a daily learning schedule from now until he goes into 1st grade, which is a good thing. we usually tackle the areas he has the most trouble with, and that works, but now we need to get a little more structured and consistent. for example, his kindergarten teacher says she will send us a list of things he needs to practice before 1st grade. she says he doesn't know things like the days of the week. I know he does know, but he acts like he can't remember. so, we practice and play with games about the days of the week. 3 days later, he knows them like the back of his hand, he even offers to tell us about them at random times. he remembers a lot, he knows a lot. he gets distracted and
nervous sometimes, and well, dang, he's been thru 3 moves in the past 11 months, that's enough to make anyone crazy. I say he's doing fine, and now that he's settled, we'll all be perfectly fine.

school is coming along...103 more days to the end of this program. it will be a welcomed change in lifestyle, I'll say that. last night, we had a team paper due, from a team of 4 of us. mind you, these are MBA candidates. two of us were fine. two of us were not so fine. one did a bit of plagiarizing...not a good idea when there is a plagiarism checker that the school uses! one did not follow the directions, and it took an hour to fix her part and at least an hour to fix his part...two hours of my time in order for us to get a good grade on a paper that ended up being 25 pages long. I don't believe I signed up to go around doing the assignments for my classmates. by my calculations, though, I have 4 more group papers to do between now and the end of September. I can get thru that. I
am just appreciative that I've actually learned a lot from going thru these courses, so that's a good thing. like, for instance, from this HR course: did you know that Chinese employees are not allowed to accept benefits in the form of stocks? Japanese consider it disrespectful to write a review of someone else, especially of a superior. when American companies expand businesses to overseas locations, they have to learn about the cultural and business rules and expectations, or run into trouble.

lots of other things have been going on lately, I have to stop and think about them, it seems like the days just run together sometimes. most recently, my nephew Danny had emergency surgery for his appendix. Juanita and Dan quickly drove down and took him to the doctor when he wasn't getting any better, to find out it was his appendix. I believe he mentioned feeling the sensation equal to what would be the poking of "shards of glass" in his side. I remember that sensation as if someone had a sharp knife poking in me, and they then kept turning it around and around. let's just say...it's NOT a good feeling! surgery, morphine, and loving family and friends taking care of him, Danny is on the road to recovery now. thank goodness. he's up at their house for the week, which is a good place to be, very healing.
my brothers are prepping Mom's stationwagon so that Darryl can drive it in a demolition derby on Saturday. I don't think I can go to the derby, it's Mike's Dad's birthday on the 10th, and the family is all coming over to help him celebrate his 73rd bday on Sat. but, having had time to think about it, I don't think I'm in a place to enjoy watching Mom's car get crunched. she told Darryl he could have it, she knew he'd be taking it to wreck it. heck, she probably would have helped paint it and perhaps even gone to the derby for that one. but, it's the weird things in life that stir up emotions, and I am glad they can all do this, and I'm sure they will have fun and that Darryl will be safe. but, I don't think there is a place for me in the bleachers for this one. I'll go to the next derby, and have fun there.

and yes, it's been almost 2 years since Mom passed on, made her transition.
if there is Anything in Life that will make you stop in time and wish for a few more moments, it's letting a loved one pass on. and there is no one that can fill the spot or love of a Mom. no one. it's unique and special all by itself. there isn't a day that goes by that I don't miss her, even though I know she can see and hear and know all that I ask and tell her. it would be nice to see her again, and to hug her again. I'm eternally grateful when she comes to visit me in my dreams. the last time was just a few days ago, and she was smiling and waving, and it seemed to be a younger version of herself, because her hair was darker, like her natural dark brown. I miss and love you, Mom!

one thing I do look forward to, and will be making time for in the VERY near future: something creative! a couple of sewing projects, a quilt in the making, a typing project, writing project, beads...all the things that help keep my sanity so I'm a better wife, mother, and friend.

the best part of life is the journey, so they say, and it's true. I'm glad that our journey has settled down a lot. finally. so glad.
and I'm also glad that I don't live with anyone that honestly believes that cherries will make their knees hurt.