Almost there...

It's Friday. I'm getting through the work day today, and then it's jammies and bad takeout and beer and movies and sleeping in tomorrow until at least 9. I have found myself utterly depleted this week, for no really good reason. The only thing different is the play practice, which could be a part of it. I think the lack of hope for Spring ever appearing is another part.

I've been giving C-man Vitamin B-12 and some Bach's Rescue Remedy to help him sleep. It seems to be helping, because he hasn't fallen out of bed the last few nights. Maybe I should take a shot of that, too!

Almost there....

Thursday Thirteen

1. Trip Advisor sent me a list of the best places to stay in Barcelona. Sigh. I really want to go somewhere.
2. I burned my hand this morning while getting hot water for tea. It barely touched me, and my whole hand is red, even though I've had ice on it for hours. That water is really hot!
3. It's all the fault of my coffee shop closing down. If they'd stayed open, I wouldn't have to clumsily pour my own water.
4. We have a busy weekend ahead. Baseball clinic, school and church dinner, and 3:30 tickets to see Anataole at First Stage.
5. C-man is Pig #3 in his upcoming play. He informed me last night he needs a pink hoodie. With all the Pink Warrior stuff out there, you'd think a simple pink hoodie would be easy. Not so much. (Amazon to the rescue!)
6. I love all the pictures of Hank the Brewers dog. And it stops us from discussing the pesky issues like, "Who is going to play first base?" and, "Can we make it through the season with only one closer?"
7. I think my lack of caffeine intake is directly impacting my ability to stay awake in boring meetings.
8. It has also been one of those days when I can't hear anything going on because my bullshit alarm has needed to be so loud.
9. C-man adores the show About a Boy after the first episode. Having a show with a kid his age is a big hit.
10. I have play rehearsal tonight. Act 1, Scene 2. I get to start with, "It's too grotesque for words!" C-man loves that line, and we were giggling and giggling about it yesterday.
11. Speaking of C-man, I just realized he needs new cleats. Man, these little buggers get expensive fast.
12. Speaking of expensive, he also has a birthday coming up. What to get the child charmed with everything?
13. Time for some coffee!

Is it time for our long winter's nap yet?

• There is no play rehearsal for me tonight. They're "blocking scene 1" and since I don't come in until scene 2, I don't have to be there.
• Do you like how I'm speaking all thespian lingo now? I feel so cultured.
• C-man has own play practice tonight. They got cancelled so many times due to snow days that she's added in new rehearsal nights.
• I need to start making some yogurt again so I can get some good cultures in me. I think that cleanse thing destroyed all the good gut bacteria.
• There must be something to it since so many people are doing it, but I'm going to officially say I'd never need to do that again.
• Saturday night is the annual church and school auction. Everyone who was going to sit with us has bailed. I hope it's a fun night and not one of those awful ones filled with small talk. Ugh.
• I haven't told C-man, but I think his cousin is going to come hang with him while we're gone. He'll adore that.
• C-man already has his Helfaer Field game date - June 22nd against the Dodgers.
• I really love baseball talk right now, but it's kind of hard to believe it'll ever really happen.
• I could really use a long winter's nap.

Lameday

It's Tuesday. My back is really hurting today. No real reason beyond the impending cold front of doom. I have rehearsals again tonight. That's going to be a common theme for the next 6 weeks. I sure hope I like this play thing. Most exciting is I have my certified beekeeping classes coming up soon. Yea for honey! And that pretty much sums up my Tuesday.

Yet another Monday

• Break out your baseball green and yellow. C-man is going to be an A the next two baseball seasons.
• Seriously, baseball season. It seems so far away. Somewhere out there beyond the wall polar vortex.
• I may need to go into Olympics detox soon.
• My dog wash and coffee bar is no longer going to be a coffee bar. While I realize it goes down under first world problems, seriously?!? Because it's not like I am going to go to Starbucks. I guess I'm going to need to re-route my drive in to go past Stone Creek now.
• My play rehearsals start tonight. Whoot!

Undefeatedly Fast at the Pinewood Derby 500

Last night, we raced from baseball tryouts to the Pinewood Derby where C-man happily raced his Purple Beast down the track. Each kid was in 6 races (2 on each track). He won them all, which got him to the Top 10 races, which meant each car raced 2 more times on each track. When he won each of those, it got him to the final 3 cars to race 3 more races (once on each track).

The Purple Beast handily won every single race it was in by at least 2 mph, and got 3rd place for overall car design.

It was a big night for C-man. And quite possibly a bigger one for Beerman, when all the dads were closely inspecting the car post-race asking questions and trying to figure out how it was built. I'm guessing there will be a lot of flat ones next year.

C-man was totally thrilled. We've definitely come a long way from that first race 3 years ago when his car didn't even make it all the way down the track!

The Purple Beast Pinewood Car

Today is the Pinewood Derby. After baseball tryouts. And that's what we call Saturday around here.

It's just those rainy days

So little to say when I'd really just like to be home napping and watching TV.

And then there was a fruit battery science fair project

Weeks of research, days of setup, days of writing a report, hours of board design, and a few tears... but ladies and gentlemen, today we had a science fair presentation, complete with apples that lit up the battery. He was so proud of himself, it was hard not to be excited for him. And he really did do a good job explaining the whole thing to people, even when adults asked tougher questions. Which means he learned something. Tonight, there is a surprise celebration eclair waiting for him after dinner. I'm sure Beerman will be cracking a celebration beer to do the same. Ahhh... taking 3rd grade over again is tougher than I remember it being the first time around.

Boring stuff that's happening in my world

• Tomorrow C-man presents his science fair project. I sure hope Beerman gets an A.
• Last night, after a 90 minute drive home, I got stuck in my own driveway.
• As Beerman got one leg of the circular drive cleared, I went out to move the car to that leg so he could clear it off. As he was giving the car a push to make sure I didn't spin, an old Russian guy stopped in the street, got out, and helped push (despite our protests that it wasn't necessary). He practically pushed Beerman aside. The best part? The filterless cigarette that never left his mouth. Funny experience.
• Saturday C-man has baseball tryouts and a Cub Scout pinewood derby.
• Due to C-man's lack of interest in the pinewood derby car, Beerman just bought one already done. It just needs paint. It's amazing what you can get on the world wide webs.
• Sunday, Beerman and I are going to go curl. He's decided it's his only shot at still becoming an Olympian.
• I really hate this cleanse thing. All that nonsense about feeling so great and energetic are bunk. I just feel hungry.
• Speaking of hunger, we may have to start buying our cows in bulk again the way C-man is eating. I smell a growth spurt. A really big one.
• As hungry as I am, I think I could eat the whole cow, too.

Buried under all this snow

• So I quit the cleanse for the weekend. I was just so darned hungry. Plus, it was Valentines and C-man was with a friend all day/evening Saturday. And I was really hungry.
• We ended up going out to a new place in Cedarburg that was small plates and a gazillion beers. I don't know if it's because I hadn't really eaten in a week, but it was great. I highly recommend it. Not to mention, Beerman of course knows the owner, which made everything better.
• C-man went to 2 plays on Saturday. One was a play the neighbor kid's grandma directed, so they got to cue some of the lights. And one line referred to a lady's large breasts. He thought that was awesome.
• I'm back on the cleanse today. Ugh. I'm going to try to do this until Friday.
• I really love the Olympics, but PLEASE, can we just be done with the figure skating already?
• The snow keeps coming down. I should be at home. In the warmth. With my puppy. Instead, I'm going to go to a calibration meeting. Ick.
• I could really use a cheeseburger.

You're One in a Minion

Happy Valentines Day!

Day 4

I've eaten 4 avocados, an apple, and a bunch of green drink nastiness the past 4 days. Man, I'd really like a cheeseburger.

Bob's Your Uncle

It's felt like a whirlwind week, and it's only Wednesday. My back has started hurting again - who knows why - and my to-do list keeps getting longer. On the good side of things, Mr. Pickles once again has a warm tank (the heater went out and I had to get a new one for them), C-man's Science Fair board is completed and driven to school this morning (even though he forgot the rest of his homework), and my hair is highlighted and pretty enough to get compliments again (pesky premature grays). Tonight, I should just have a few things to pick up around the house, and we should be set for a calm, happy evening watching the Olympics. Or, as C-man says, Bob's your uncle!

Randomly

• The science fair project is done and ready for school. The hypothesis, the data, the research, the battery building, the LED light board building, the report, and the board complete with Mythbusters font and 3D letters for a title. Done.
• I made it through Day 1 of this cleanse thing. Sort of. I think the shakes taste terrible - like drinking a proteiny blueberry muffin mix, so I only drank 1. But such is life. I don't know if I'll really make 10 days of this.
• Going grocery shopping last night probably wasn't the smartest thing I've ever done.
• I did sleep really well last night, which is super unusual, so maybe there is something to this.
• If nothing else, getting off the caffeine need is a plus.
• The Olympics has been pretty addicting. I can't help myself, but have the live Twitter feed on all day to know what's happening in real time. I don't have time to wait for NBC nonsense.
• My back continues to hurt. I think this is going to be one of those miserable 3 month-long experiences.
• I have such a long to-do list, it's stressing me out. Good thing I'm getting my hair done today. That always helps.

Peekaboo

I've started this cleanse thing. We'll see how far I get without much food and caffeine. I don't have high hopes, but I really do need to do something. So here goes nothing. Literally, almost nothing.

Almost...

It's almost the weekend. The time when I get to go home, watch the birds and squirrels and bad movies.

Thursday Thirteen

1. Every time we go to the park, someone will tell me I shouldn't groom my dog to be shorter than a full coat because he's cold in this brutal winter.
2. And every time, I point to him either wallowing in the cold stream or rubbing his face and then whole body in the snow. Why yes, you're correct. He's freezing cold.
3. My back is no better. I have another massage scheduled for Saturday morning. I'm really hoping this improves soon, because it's getting really annoying to not be able to sit. Plus, I look like a total jackass standing in meetings.
4. I really want to start this cleanse program I bought, but can't, because I need to have enough food with these pain killers I'm taking. Stupid back.
5. I also really want to learn how to ski, but alas. Stupid back.
6. I'm pretty excited about the Winter Olympics starting. I've become obsessed with @SochiProblems, because it's almost too unbelievable to be real, but excited to see the venues. (I really, really hope there aren't terror problems or too many athlete injuries)
7. C-man is thrilled to watch the skiing events, now that he fancies himself a ski racer.
8. A while back I'd posted of a dear friend who needed to get her father home from Louisiana to New Hampshire because he'd had a stroke and brain bleed. After getting clearance to get him to fly, and delays and being re-routed to Boston, she flew down and brought him home yesterday.
9. I drove C-man to school today because he decided as he was getting on his snowpants that his nose was plugged enough to need to use the neti pot. (He has a cold) I'm so excited he's willingly using it, that I didn't even mind letting the bus go by. (Maybe this will stop future sinus infections!)
10. Beerman is flying home tonight after being in Colorado all week. We do fine while he's gone, but it's always nicer to be together.
11. This is the weekend that C-man is going to finish his science fair project board. We have all the components printed out, just need to arrange them on the board.
12. When Beerman asked how the report writing went, I responded, "It's an appropriate report from a 3rd grader," to which he responded, "In other words, I shouldn't read it?" Right. That's totally what it means.
13. Our pencil sharpener broke. So I went to Amazon to see about ordering another one. I didn't go through with it, because I couldn't decide if ordering a pencil sharpener online was the height of efficiency or lazy.

Pain, pain, go away

At the risk of being a whiny mcwhiner, my back HURTS. This has been about 10 days of not sitting. I know I sit a lot at work, but seriously, try and get through an hour-long meeting when sitting for 15 minutes makes you want to scream. It's affecting everything. I can barely work. My house is disgusting, because I can't sweept or vacuum, let alone clean out a toilet. I've been bringing laundry up a piece at a time because I can't bring the whole basket. A few chiropractic appointments, a massage, and a whole bunch of Tramdol, and nothing seems to be helping.

ARGGGGGHHHH!

On a positive side, I'm leaving work today, and C-man and I have nothing to do tonight.

AHHHHHH...

Is it the weekend yet?

Weather talk makes me miserable

As winter continues, people continue to complain about it. Just so that summer can come, and they can complain about that. I'm so tired of it. Weather talk totally bores me. But even if it didn't, it's so rarely brought up to point out the good things. It's brought up as a reason to blather on about bad things, which ultimately lead to rants of more bad things.

I can't take the negativity.

I could dwell on the cold and the seemingly endless grey. But it's winter. I live in Wisconsin. Where it snows. A lot. And it's cold. Really cold. I don't like the low-slung sun barely cresting the horizon day after day either, but I'm choosing to not dwell on it. Instead, I'm enjoying the happy and hungry squirrels as they approach my window to gobble up the seed I've placed for them. I'm loving the softness of the sound as the snow comes down. I'm adoring how much C-man has gotten into skiing. I think it's awesome how Harry presses himself up against the windows in attempt to get colder and dives in the snow when he's outside.

But to just discuss the weather? Meh. Turn on the weather channel and then move on. And let me spend the rest of my day enjoying what it brings.

Happy Superodent Bowl Day!

• C-man's science fair project is almost done. We built the pieces of the board today. All that's left is the assembly.
• Beerman continues to teach him new things and try out new experiments. I'll be really happy when this thing is over.
• I've taken to feeding the squirrels around here, and spending my weekend hours watching how cute they are outside my window.
• A few may now have names.
• I might have turned into an old man.
• We're heading to the neighbor's for the game. My back is killing me, so we'll see how long I last.
• I don't really care who wins this one.
• Even though I spent my Saturday night watching the football awards because someone in the house wouldn't let us watch anything else.
• We may have to undergo Football Detox Monday tomorrow.
• The Groundhog saw his shadow. You'll excuse me when I say, "No shit."

Deep conversations

Yesterday morning, C-man started singing one of the songs from A Midnight Cry, the play we saw at First Stage a couple of weekends ago about the underground railroad. (It was absolutely fantastic, and I had to choke back true sobs when they whipped the woman, it was so moving and horrifying. The music was incredible (and we all know how much I dislike musicals), and it was incredibly soul touching.)

And then he turned to me and said, "They didn't want her to be educated, because then she would have known she could be free. Everyone should be able to get an education, Mom. Because then nobody can tell you things that are wrong, because you know better. Kind of like the women we saw from those other countries when we were in Turkey." (He was referring to the fully covered women from fundametally religious cultures who couldn't look at men.)

I'd be lying if I didn't get a little teary. He really has an innate sense of social justice and empathy and compassion that goes well beyond his 8 little years. But he is also able to look across cultures and events throughout time and connect when there is a common wrong. I know I'm biased, but this is one pretty special child.