just stuff

I'm looking out my window and longing to do yard work and garden.

I should revist yoga first for slipped disc prevention.

Toots is on a steady diet of PBS this morning as I

peck my way through a mountain pass of laundry through the garage to the washer and back,

sit here trying to think of something useful to do or say,

slowly finish my breakfast and tea.

Periodically, she stops by my desk, dropping a blue bowl by my elbow.

Mom: Is this a hint?
Toots (sucking fingers and walking away): Mm-hm.
Mom: Would you like more blueberries?
Toots: M-hm.

I feel taken for granted.  She just plunked the bowl by my elbow again.  I'm not refilling for a third time.  That is not an accident I want to discover.


I'm still thinking of ways to redesign the boys' room, etc.  DIY is on my mind. But not as much as a couple of weeks ago.  I found the same shelves at IKEA.

Adventure time!  Nearest IKEA is 3 hours away and the shelves are not available online.  That website is a big tease.

I'm still thinking of ways to redo Captain Comic's room into Toots's, but feel very dejected after viewing the shoulder high contents of his closet over the weekend. I walked out of the room and closed the door behind me. For the time being, that is an excellent policy to uphold. I'm sticking to it.  I don't want to do this, which is the other option, skip ahead to the he-ha-ho part at 8:17:



or you could just watch the whole thing.  - one of the greatest Bugs ever.



Come to think of it, Mr. Cynic hasn't made much headway in his room, though I've been on both of them for ages about the hurricane disaster looking zones.

What's a mom to do?

captain comic

It's a rainy Saturday, and my horoscopes and a tarot card all conferred and said I should use it to write.  So I am settling in at the local library with my manuscript. At home is cleaning. I called for Captain Comic from the bottom of the stairs, before I ventured out the front.

Captain Comic (darts from his room to the top of the stairs): What?
Mom: I'm going to the library to write. Please pick up your floor-
Capt. Comic: But Moooom, I tried!  It was too heavy! (chuckles)
Mom (chuckles, too): Okay, Okay...but seriously, pick up your room-
Capt. Comic: I just told you - I tried, it's too heavy!
Mom: Okay. Pick up your books and put them on your bookshelf, papers go-
Capt. Comic: AAAAUGH! okay, okay!

That's all.  Now I write.

gutted

Later, Captain Comic and I walked down the major route a piece to get a look at the aftermath.
His first comment was "Wow, it looks like something twice the size of a rhinoceros and flaming crashed right into the house."

His second was, "I feel deeply sorry for that family. Deeply Sorry."

Who says people with Autism/Asperger's don't have empathy? 

I told him I knew he has a big heart.  And then I hugged him, and we walked back through the sleet and rain to the warmth and safety of our home.

without warning

Grandma and I were minding our own business when it started to get quite dark in the office. Then we heard the sirens, and looked out the window to see big black billowing smoke across the major route that runs behind the house. Grandma grabbed Toots and coats, and ran out to the back fences.

I grabbed camera and coat and ran to the corner.

Still running, I tried to get shots from a distance, across the street.

Blur due to running, but I wanted to show the Deputy for a sense of proportion.

By then we knew it wasn't just the spit of woods, but a house behind them.

Thankfully, the fire department assured us no one was home.

Still.  The house is a total loss.  I don't know who lives there, but I sure feel for them.  Can you imagine?  You drop your kids off at daycare, you go to the office, just like any other day. And then this happens.

I took this from the opposite corner from our house, but still on the same side of the highway. I talked with a woman who said they were driving by and her husband jumped out of the truck at the sight of the flames, to go help. She hadn't heard from him yet. This is about ten minutes after it all started.

And then my next door neighbor came running, yelling about the truck on fire.

While we ran back to check on the truck and get the baby out of it (I didn't know he was in there), she conferred with the Deputies who ran with us and found that her husband was accounted for at the house fire site.

I invited her to bring the baby inside to keep him warm. Told the officers our address to let her husband know, and wow, what an exciting piece of the morning.

Have I mentioned I live in Mayhem?

Toots fell in love with Baby Gunnar. He was not quite two years old - May - and she will be three on April first. He towered over her.

She still wants to show him all of her toys and Playdoh.

Oh boy, do I appreciate our little home right now.

future photographer

Sorry, I don't mean to rub it in for you storm weary folks, but yesterday, it was 70F here.

(Duck)  Please don't shoot.

Don't worry, it was a one day only tease thanks to Punxutawny Phil. We're back in the 30s now. 

Toots and I took a walk with Lucy around the neighborhood and lake. I took pictures, she took pictures.

Here's one of her pictures. They were all a variation on theme. lots of chopped faces and up our noses shots.

Then I took this one of Lucy.

Love that dog.  But I think Captain Comic will be walking her today. Burr.

punxutawney phil

Thank you, you lovely groundhog.  Of course you didn't see your shadow, the sky is filled with clouds.

I like you, you are a fun barometer.

I'm sorry all those people flashed cameras at you.  You can go back to sleep now.

I wasn't so far off when I posted about Rebirth the other day.

Hang in there, all of you stuck in the ice storms and snowville.

It'll all be over soon.  P. Phil says so.

utter writer's block and love

I have the house to myself for a few hours this morning and Grandma agreed to pick up Toots from preschool today, which means, likely she'll take her to Wendy's for fries and chocolate Frosty after.

It's the Grandma is picking me up from preschool thing to do.

I am staring at my manuscript. It is staring back. I feel like it's High Noon in an old western and one of us is the sheriff. I just don't know who.

Grandma just walked in, said, "I'm on my way to get her, we're going out for lunch."

So now I hear the long lonely whistle from the theme to The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.




And I feel like The Ugly.


So I will shift focus.

There are two routes to preschool, the longer windier one goes by both of the boys' schools and a couple of small fields of horses. It's the one I usually take because Toots and I like to discuss each school and the horses. Excerpt from this morning's transcript:

Mom: The horses on the left are coming right up!
Toots: Wiw day be weawing deir jackets?
Mom: Most likely, if they are awake and out, because it is pretty cold this morning.
Toots: OOO, dere day ahre! Day ahre weawing deir jackets!
Mom (giggles): Yes they are!  Aren't they pretty?
Toots: Oh yes, I yuv da horsies! And I yuv deir jackets! And I yuv dose gween twees over dere! Oooo, and I yuv dat yewwow twuck!
Mom (still giggling): I love those evergreens and that yellow truck, too!  Oh, look at the geese over there! (taps driver side window)
Toots (squealing now): Ooooo, I yuv dose geese! Heyyo geese!  I yuv you! I yuv you, too, Mommy.
Mom (still giggling) I love you, too!

This continues for the last mile, and then she loved her preschool.....

Life is good. Go at it with your heart wide.