Filed under: Project 365, food, kids, plants | Tags: cursive, kids, orchid, Project 365, roach
Project 365, still going strong on day 6. Not impressed, eh?
Day 4: Jan. 4, 2009
Today is our 12th anniversary. Neil is in Phoenix, watching the Longhorns play Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl, and I spent my day vacuuming up Christmas tree needles, working on the mountain of clothes in the laundry room, buying earthworms for a science project and trying to coax them back to life, and cleaning up puke from Abigail (who mysteriously threw up right before the earthworm prodding began).
While we were at Walmart – my least favorite place in the entire world, but the only store that had (1) a plastic box for the earthworm habitat, (2) 3 flashlights for $1 each, (3) printer paper, (4) potting soil, (5) colored Sharpies, and (6) earthworms – I ran across this orchid. Orchids are my all-time favorite flower, mainly because they don’t go into a vase, they aren’t red roses, and I can keep them alive for longer than 2 weeks, although all bets are off after that point. This particular one had these cute little clusters of flowers, looked healthy, and was only $10 (probably because it was mass produced by 4 year-olds in China), so I bought it and said Happy Anniversary to me!
Day 5: Jan. 5, 2009
Santa left this way-too-lifelike roach (with pull-back rolling action!) in Travis’ stocking, and he has delighted in giving me the heebie jeebies by leaving it on the kitchen counter or in my bed. Today, he wanted to go out to eat for the sole purpose of freaking out the waiter, and I thought that sounded like a fine idea, especially since I haven’t bought groceries since before Christmas. We decided to go to Chili’s, and luckily our waiter was a total jokester himself, so he appreciated the basket of fries with a side of roach.
Day 6: Jan. 6, 2009
3rd grade is the year for cursive, and Travis, who has always been a bit challenged with fine-motor skills (maybe because he’s a lefty?), is less than amused with having to learn an entire new alphabet, especially after he just got the first one down. And to make matters worse, he didn’t get the alternate list (because they didn’t have school on Monday, so he didn’t take a pretest), so he has to practice spelling words that he already knows. Also, did I mention that he hates cursive? Because if I forgot, let me tell you right now – cursive is dumb and stupid and everyone should just write in print or learn how to type. I helped him with a few words, and Abby, in a rare display of sisterly love and patience, sat down with him and helped him with the rest (writing the words in cursive and then helping him practice, then write them on his spelling sheet). I’m sure this must have been in exchange for doing her chores for the next two weeks, or giving him all her money, or something along those lines.
Either way, he recovered nicely after that, and we had an enjoyable evening until they agreed to play Uno Attack, and Abby backed out at the last second (just to piss him off, I’m pretty sure). This was followed up by a spectacular show of grumpiness, where he stomped around the house, arms crossed and brows furrowed, until he finally plopped down on top of Moose’s kennel and farted really loudly. For some reason, this totally ruined the mad-as-hell aura, and Abby and I both burst out laughing.
Because without you, I wouldn’t be able to torment my kids with obligatory bluebonnet photos every year.
I usually resort to outright bribery to get decent pictures, and even then, it’s pretty iffy.
We skip school take a “mental health day” once a year, and I always time it for a pretty day in April, when the bluebonnets are at their peak. We do other fun stuff, but pictures are always part of the deal. If they don’t cooperate, they go back to school. I take my bribes very seriously.
This year’s mental health day happened to coincide with Travis coming down with strep (again), and an eye doctor appointment for Abby. Travis has been on the new antibiotics for 24 hours, so he’s feeling just fine, but he couldn’t go to school since he was running a fever yesterday. And since I was planning on picking Abby up early anyway, I decided to just keep them both home and have a little fun.
We went to Schlotzysky’s for lunch, where the kids debated who was more “talented” over their pizzas and lemonades.
Travis: I’m really good at baseball. You can’t even throw.
Abby: Well, at least I can tie my shoes.
Travis: And I have more AR (accelerated reader) points.
Abby: Soooo! I’m more “adulty.” (This is where I just about spit out my diet coke.)
After lunch, we went off in search of a bluebonnet patch, and then to see Horton Hears a Who. And before we headed to Abby’s eye appointment, we stopped to enjoy a cupcake or 3.
Abby immediately licked all of the icing off the top. That way, she contaminated the entire cupcake, successfully deterring any and all sharing. Not very “adulty,” if you ask me.
While Travis, appalled at Abby’s greediness, took a bite and offered me a taste. And then reveled in his favored child status for approximately 2 more minutes, until he farted loud enough to scare the grackles away.
While Neil and Abby were at the Father-Daughter dance, Travis and I participated in Earth Hour, and turned off all the lights, TVs, and computers (gasp!) in the house. Since it was still twilight when it started at 8 PM, we went outside for a bit and played around. I tried a bit of nightime photography on my overgrown antique roses.
This is one I picked up with my friend Sheri when we took at trip out to the Antique Rose Emporium in Brenham. I basically threw the thing in a hole in the backyard about 7 years ago, and forgot about it. It’s already covered in large, six-inch blooms, and has taken over about 6 feet of the fence. This particular rose is Souvenir de la Malmaison – you’d think that a plant with such a snooty-sounding name would be a little more persnickity. But the beautiful thing about antique roses is that they behave kind of like native plants. They don’t require the same kind of diligence that hybrid teas do – perfect for lazy gardeners like me.
Travis spent a while doing his best to get airborne by jumping off the swing. He managed pretty well.
After he had acheived maximum vertical swingitude, we decided to go on a walk around the neighborhood. We couldn’t have had better weather for a late-night walk, and we headed over to Aunt Diane’s. Unfortunately, no one had clued them in on Earth Hour, and we didn’t want to cheat by hanging out and using their electricity, so we chatted for a bit and walked back home. Then we grabbed a blanket and went outside to lie on the trampoline and look at the stars. Maybe by the next Earth Hour, we’ll be able to see a few more…
