21 years and still going strong

Yesterday marked 21 years since BN and I got  married.  And well, that's a long time.  Only it doesn't seem like all that long ago.

Just yesterday, my oldest was talking about how dad never gives up.  (apparently not on me either - teehee) Right now he has the boys semi-convinced that he is Batman. 

So I told him a story from when we were first married.

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One day back when we were newly married, I winked at BN.  BN looked at me and blinked both eyes.  I asked him if he meant to blink both eyes or could he not wink and he stated that he could not wink.

I was stunned because I never knew this about him.  Prior to marriage, we had dated for almost 5 years.  How could I not know this about my beloved, the future father of my children, the one with whom I share all my secrets?

Ten years pass and we had our oldest son.  BN looked at me from across the room and winked.  Needless to say, my mouth fell agape and I asked, "when did you learn to wink?"

He just laughed and said, "I've always known how to wink."

~R

The day the TV went out...

It was a dark and gloomy...day.  It really was.  We had just been cleared of the two tornado warnings in our area and with all the rain and the wind, we just wanted to hunker down and watch a movie.

BN was out of town and a neighbor kid just home from school was hunkering down with us.  Then, "POP!" and the 55 inch screen went dark.  At first there was excitement over the popping noise and then disbelief that we couldn't watch t.v. or a movie or play a video game. 

That television was the only one in the house because BN and I are strict about keeping all television activity in the family room.  Our bedroom is used for two things and t.v. is not one of them.  We don't allow televisions in the boys' rooms because we don't want them spending so much time apart from the family, which happens with kids we know that have access to games and computers and televisions in their own rooms.

So when the boob tube went out and the mourning period was over, the boys grabbed their big box of markers and art pads and sat at the table drawing until dinner.

We spent the remainder of Friday and all day Saturday and Sunday without television.  The boys played outside when it wasn't raining and when it was, they played indoors.  Simple as that.

You can bet your booty that we are fixing the problem, but I'm kinda liking the silence.

~R

Week in Review (Sep 19-23)

This week has been a testament to my garbled mind.  I've talked about funny things the boys say, clothing, gardening, cholesterol and grammar and writing.  No focus button.

Pete started his Film Crew this week and he seems happy to be a part of it.  I know he'll love it even more when the actual filming takes place.

RePete is rocking the soccer field.  He loves soccer.  In fact, he smiles the entire time he plays.  It's a joy to watch. 

I've come up with a reward system to get RePete to learn his sight words.  Money talks, people.

I met up with a friend at co-op that I hadn't seen since last spring and we had a blast catching up.  She's a total free spirit and I'm a closet free spirit and it's liberating to be around her.

I'm focusing my spare time on holistic remedies for various maladies and I'm also trying to get back into yoga.

BN has a 30 hour adventure race this weekend.  We thought about going along and camping but he won't be there for taking the tent down all the fun, so we decided to wait until another time to camp.  Not sure what the boys and I will be doing this weekend.

~R 

Growing Boys

I can't believe how big my boys are getting.  This past weekend we were hit with a cold front and Pete had zero pants and RePete had one pair.  I don't know how that happened except I do have a fuzzy memory of sneaking worn running pants into the trash each time I did a load of laundry this past spring. Pete has a thing for comfortable clothing.

I also recall a dim memory of loading jean after jean into the bag I donate to the Vets every couple of months.  RePete likes things a little more polished and likes jeans and collared shirts.   Although, his Tony Hawk t-shirt collection is spilling out of his drawer.

All this meant we had to go clothes shopping.  Of course, on the way to the store, Pete declared that he would only be purchasing running pants.  RePete stated that he needed a new hoodie since he only had one in the closet.  Hmmm.  Thoughts are seeping out that show me putting hoodie after hoodie into the Vet bag last spring when I washed and stowed our coats.

While Pete tried on his pants of choice I was looking at jeans and picked up his size with the added Husky on the label.  His issue with clothing goes back to when he was very little.  He's never liked elastic on the arms or legs and has always preferred soft clothing to stiffer items, like jeans.  But I took a chance and showed him the pants and asked him just to try them and if he didn't like them, I was fine with that.  Well he liked them.  He liked them a lot.  Even though he doesn't need a husky, that little bit of extra room kept the jeans from feeling so...jean-like.  And the jeans had the worn look, so they were softer anyway.  We bought three pair.

RePete was easy because he likes jeans and I just picked up three pair in his size.  He found the hoodie of his dreams, but they didn't have his size.  I found the manager and there were none in the back and none at the other stores.  He couldn't even find it at the store online.  So we are on the hunt for it ourselves online.  Somebody has to sell it.  Normally, I'd have him pick something else, but he's not a picky kid and will wear just about anything I give him (since I like tailored clothing myself) and I want him happy.

And then I came home and found a Rubbermaid tub in the top of Pete's closet that had a label of 8-10 winter on it.  Now Pete has six more brand new pair of pants.  These were jeans and stiffer cargo type pants that Pete would never wear.  There were also five winter shirts for Repete.  So other than the hoodie, he's done.  I love hand-me-downs.

Now to take a better inventory of Pete's drawers and see how much more shopping I need to do.

~R

Garden Woes

Our garden was a total bust this year.  No cucumbers.  Five tomatoes. A handful of green beans and limas.  Oh and a couple of servings of lettuce and spinach.  No zuchinni, no peppers of any kind, and watermelons and cantaloupes that didn't ripen.

 

Look how sad this is. 

I was so disappointed that I didn't even take many pictures.  I'm not sure what happened this time around but I am seriously thinking of going back to the old row planting.  Not sure how we'll handle the moles/voles whatever they are, but this square thing isn't working for me.  I'm sure it works, I've seen other gardeners who use it, but I can't get it right.  I want to not only be able to provide food for my family during the growing season, but also be able to freeze or can items for future use.  I am so envious of the other gardeners I see or read that have been able to do this.

~R

He said, He said

We have a new little girl living in our cul-de-sac.  It doesn't bother her at all that only boys live around these parts.  Pete came in from playing the other day and said, "Girl are too hard to play with.  They're so bossy." 

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We had our annual termite inspection done on the house and we had the bug guy take care of the ants by the back door.  He let me know that while under our house, he came across a snake skin and it wasn't a black snake.  He believes it was from a water moccasin (we live on the water) and he laid the skin just inside the crawl space door to warn anyone entering to be careful and look for snakes.  Pete and RePete speculated on what other type snakes it could have been (BN had to kill one recently and the fascination with snakes is high right now) and RePete asked, "Do you think it was a black mama?"  He meant mamba.  

I burned water

 I've said for years that I wanted a personal chef.  I think this is proof that I require one.  I forgot that I put water on the stove to boil.

I've heard people use the expression that they are so bad at cooking they burn water.  I've officially done it.  I'm that bad. 

I wonder if my pan is safe to use.  It was actually smoking. This is a comparison of what my sauce pans usually look like and what happened with the water incident.

~R