Grab a chair and a couple of root beers...

LOOK!! MY RED RADIANT ROSE HAS BLOOMED!! LOOK, LOOK!!!

*is massively excited*



IT BLOOMED! IT LIKES ME, IT REALLY LIKES ME!!!

*dies of the happy*

Y'all... this rose bush is over sixty years old!!! And it had been failing and unhappy at Mom's, and I was so scared that the move would kill it, but it's so healthy, putting out leaves and IT BLOOMED!! IT BLOOMED, IT BLOOMED, IT BLOOMED!!!

*dance of joy, dance of joy*

I'm SO HAPPY!!!

Yesterday was a pretty good day. The migraine is backing off (yay!), which is a huge relief, because my poor kids were stuck at home with a grouchy mom. It's spring break, so they're off from school. Not a good time for Mom to be curled up in bed with a blanket over her head!

The Husbandly One was off yesterday, because he needed to update the photo on his driver's license. I think the current photo is... over ten years old. That's all I feel safe to say, because I know it was taken after we moved here, and Miss Priss was just old enough to be walking. Yes, that long ago! So, yes, very much time for updating!

Anyhow, after he was done with that, we went to San Marcos to visit the library and turn in books. The manga section at the San Marcos Public Library has grown since we joined, but its growth cannot keep up with the Impertinent Daughter's voracious appetite, I'm afraid. That and there seem to be people who check the manga out... but never return them, so she's often stuck, either waiting for the next volume in the series she's reading, or skipping ahead, and knowing there's something she's missing. Putting holds on manga she wants to read will work... but only if the manga in question gets turned in!

After, we went to Academy, which is a sporting goods store for those who aren't in the know, because Auntie needed new shoes. I mean, come on, the sole was coming off one pair, and the others... *winces*.

Auntie is hard on her sneakers.

There was a pair I've had my eye on for a while, and I've been waiting for the price to go down, but... it just wasn't going down fast enough, and it's not like we couldn't afford them, but I do try to stick to a budget, you know? So, I had gone down the women's shoe aisle, found the shoes, and frowned when I saw that they'd only gone down to $59.99, and I wasn't so crazy about the color.

Then I remembered, hey... I've got small feet, and they have these shoes in boys sizes... I'll go look there!

So I did, and found a pair in my size and bonus, in a snazzy blue!! And... they were $29.99!! WOOT!!

Yes, Auntie is happy!

Last night, the local library had a "Mario Kart Wii" tournament for kids, so we went for the fun of it. We don't go to our local library much because, well... it sucks, as far as reading material goes. I used to think it was poorly funded, but then I realized that it sucks for the same reason book stores never last more than six months in this town.

No one in this town reads.

*shrugs*

Yes, I know, it's appalling.

*sigh*

But, they always have interesting events at the library, and we've gone to some of them, and had a lot of fun. This was no different. The Impossible Son has been excited all week about this, so he pretty much burst into the library when we got there. He signed up immediately, and the Impertinent Daughter only signed up after much discussion with us. She said she was feeling a little too full after dinner, and wasn't sure she should, etc, but after a couple of older kids had signed up, she finally decided to join in, and had a great deal of fun. It's different playing against other kids, rather than just your parents and your brother.

The Impossible Son won two games, but came in second on his last game, so he ended up coming in fourth over all. The Impertinent Daughter, however... won the whole damn tournament!!

*dies laughing*

Pretty good for someone who didn't want to sign up in the first place! She won a $20 gift certificate to WalMart and promptly spent it on... sketchbooks. But then, y'all already knew that, right?

Yes, all in all, a good night for our little family. I'm pondering what to do today, though it looks cloudy and rainy. Maybe a movie? We'll just have to see!

You ever have one of those moments when you're wholly absorbed in something, and then something happens that reminds you of why you have come to this particular place in your life?

We were at the library. The Husbandly One and the Impossible Son had gone off into the children's section to look for books, and the Impertinent Daughter and I had gone to look for manga. The manga and graphic novel section is right across from the yarn crafts section, so when I didn't find what I wanted in manga, I walked over to look at books on knitting, since I'm trying to learn. And I found what looked like a fascinating book, No Idle Hands: The Social History of American Knitting by Anne L. Macdonald (no, that's not a typo, that's the way it's spelled on the cover of the book), so I slipped it off the shelf, opened it, and started reading. You'd think a book about knitting, especially the history of knitting, would be boring, but I was wholly and completely absorbed within seconds. How could I not be, reading about how Boy Scout troops during World War I spent hours knitting squares to be sewn together to make blankets for soldiers heading to France? Or when the township of Andover, Massachusetts, decreed in 1642: "The court doe hereupon order and decree that in every towne then chosen men are to take care of such as are sent to keep cattle that they are sett to some other employment withall as spinning upon the rock, knitting & weaving tape &c that boyes and girls will be not suffered to converse together..."

Oh, I was lost! I was standing there, head bent, book open, completely and totally absorbed and then, I don't know how to describe it adequately. There I was, one moment lost in the book, the next, suddenly aware of a presence, breath against the back of my neck, and then lips on my skin. I gasped and turned... to see bright blue eyes looking into mine, and the Husbandly One smiling at me with mischief.

Normally, any one sneaking up behind me and taking the liberty of kissing me on the neck like that would end up with a bloody nose, because Auntie is a little tightly wired, if you know what I mean! But... somehow, even though I never heard him coming up, even though I wasn't even aware of him until half a second before he did it... I just knew. Somehow, I just knew. And that was just... mind-blowing. After nearly 19 years, you'd think I'd be used to this kind of thing, to just having this... awareness of my husband... but it's constantly a surprise, and it makes me ridiculously happy. Totally ridiculously happy.

*contented sigh*

Miss Priss had a soccer game both on Saturday and on Sunday. And her team lost both of them. *sigh* After yesterday's game, we had a party for the kids, they got their trophies, and had a "Parents VS Kids" game afterwards, which was a HUGE amount of fun. And yes, the Husbandly One played, and so did I! And even more important, I did NOT end up, splayed on the ground, doing a face-plant. Y'all should be immensely proud of me! It was exhausting, and I coughed my lungs up last night, but it was entirely worth seeing the look of delight on the Impertinent One's face when she spotted me playing defense across the field from her. Totally!

Mom, in cleats, running down a forward and keeping him from scoring. Mom, blocking the ball and passing it to midfield. Mom, not dying and not falling. Mom is awesome!

I've won enough awesome points to last me through Christmas!!

What do y'all think? And yes, I do own shirts other than this purple one. It's just pure coincidence that I wore the same shirt today when I left to get my hair cut! I am feeling so much cooler now! Ahhhhh...

*is happy*

It's extremely flattering to tell someone that's known you for a while that you're 45, and have them literally fall over in shock, because they didn't think you were any older than 32, at the most!!

Top Ten Good Things About How Hard Albuterol Makes Auntie Shake

10. I don't need a battery powered toothbrush, because I shake so hard when I'm brushing my teeth, it's practically like having one!

9. I don't have to work that hard making cinnamon toast, because shaking the cinnamon/sugar mix on is a breeze! I don't even have to shake the bottle!!

8. I can do the shimmy without even trying!!

7. Need to draw squiggly lines? Auntie's your gal!!

6. Vibrator. Don't need.

5. No need for a motorized tiller in the garden. Just give Auntie a gardening fork, and and let her rip!!

4. Give her a cranky baby, and she'll jiggle that sucker to sleep in no time!

3. Don't need a sprinkler. Just hand Auntie the water hose and let her go!!

2. One word. Maracas!!

... and the number one good thing about how hard Albuterol makes Auntie shake?

"Watch her wiggle
See her jiggle
Bouncing ta-ta's
Auntie's got the shakes again!!!" **



And just for an extra bonus laugh, I took the kids to Dairy Queen yesterday after my doctor's appointment to get us all some Artic Blasts, which are really just slushies. Anyhow, I went to the drive-thru, because no way did I feel like getting out of the car and walking in! So, I drove up to the intercom thingie, place my order, and wait for the gal to tell me how much it is. But she can't do that, no, she has to offer me something more, right?

This is where Auntie's hearing glitch kicks in. It's hard for me to understand the drive thru intercoms anyway, but most of the time, I figure it out. However, yesterday, my glitch decided to give me an extra entertaining session in the drive-thru.

"Would you like to knit me some argyle socks?"

Blink. Blink. "Er... what was that again?" I said, knowing there was no way in hell she even remotely could have said that!

"Would you like... to knit me... some argyle socks?" she says more slowly.

Blink. Blink. Okay, I KNOW she didn't actually say that. There is simply no way she could have said that. And really, I just... didn't want to ask her again, because I knew I'd hear the same thing again, so I decided to err on the side of caution and said, "Um... no."

"Okay, your total is $5.81, please drive up to the window to pay."

I turned to look at the Impertinent Daughter, who was riding shotgun, and said, "Could you understand what she was saying?"

"No, not really," she said, then grinned knowingly at me, recognizing the signs. "Okay, Mom, what did you hear?"

I told her and she burst out laughing, and we spent a good few minutes trying to decipher it with out any real success. Thus, by the time we drove up to the window, we were semi-hysterical. When the server came to the window, I managed to wheeze out, "What the heck were you asking me over the intercom after I placed my order?"

She blinked and said, "Um, I wasn't taking the orders, Ma'am. But... I can ask." She looked over at the blonde teenager wearing the headset dubiously, then said, "Might not do any good, though."

"That's okay, it's more fun for us to try to figure out anyway," I said, paying her and accepting our slushies.

"Why, what'd you think she said?"

I told her, and she nearly dropped my cup. I have a feeling Miss Ditzy Blonde is going to have a hard time living that one down.

When I told the Husbandly One about it later, he laughed, but as I thought about it, I realized she was probably asking something like, "Would you like to order any more with that?" or "Would you like some extra snacks?" But it doesn't quite fit.

Oh well, I may never know!! File that one away with the man in the grocery store that I could have sworn said, "Beat me, Daddy, I slobbed the knob." And no, he didn't really say that, because (1) he was saying it to his wife while holding his little daughter on his hip, and (2) I was reading his lips, and his mouth didn't match his words, but I was so stunned by what it sounded like, that I just... couldn't get past it!!

** For those of you who don't know, back in the 80's, Jello brand gelatin had a commercial jingle with the lyrics, "Watch it wiggle/See it jiggle/Cool and fruity/Jello Brand Gelatin..."