Random January Poem Free Style

January is the longest month in the world.

Measuring out the food supply. The coffee.
The gas.  The bread.
The cat food.

Rain.
Snow.
Heat.
Wind.

Puppy biting
Puppy pooping

 chocolate piles as
morning surprises

Bare feet.

Dave Grohl
.

Cold Sore and Light Fixture: Not a very deep entry

I am pretty sure I have my first cold sore. I'm pissed...

Yesterday it felt like I had gotten hit in the mouth. I brushed it off as the puppy scratching me or hitting me in the face during the night, as he sleeps between us.  Today it is more intense so I looked up cold sore symptoms and....yeah.

***********
Jake gave me another MLK Jr quote this morning.  I said, "Happy Martin Luther King Junior day."  He said, "Happy Martin Junior King Junior day to you.  This was his birthday but he didn't get his birthday because he died."
**********
Why is it that I keep hearing people talk about our president as Mr. Obama? I thought you should refer to him as President Obama.  I never heard "Mr. Bush" when Bush was in office. Am I the only one hearing this?
**********
I've gained weight. I hate that. I am hoping that once I cut one of my medications in half, it will help me lose some of it. I'm supposed to be watching my cholesterol as well. I haven't been.  I'm a little bit stressed y'all.
**********

 I hate this light fixture. First of all, I can't reach it to clean it. I don't have SCAFFOLDING.  Second, it's a nightmare to put a lightbulb in. It's way up there, on my tippy toes, on a chair, next to STAIRS.  Third, how 1993 is this thing?  I can't wait until we can get a different light fixture. Ideas?  I also want to get something to cover up the peep show we got goin' on with that window.

Funeral, MLK Jr, Casey Anthony, and Laundry

Apparently the lady (old lady) who lived three houses down from us has passed away. It seemed to take a week for the funeral to take place. Today these gaudy limos brought the black clad mourners to the house and everyone parked their cars in a nice orderly fashion up the hill.  They remind me of the Jackson family.  Everyone is good looking and dressed really nicely.

I wonder what will happen with the house now. Will one of the families move in? Will they sell it? Will they take down the wooden ramp?

Luke has been really interested in this family and with black people in general lately. He's alllll about Martin Luther King Jr. I like listening to him talk about him. Even Jake got in on the action saying that people killed MLK, JR because they didn't like his words and wanted to make their own words.

******
Tried to watch the Casey Anthony Lifetime movie tonight. It was so bad I left the room. It still recorded, so I will go back and see if I missed anything good. I doubt it. Really poorly done, but the reality of the trial and the people involved just can't compete.

Rob Lowe looked nice. :)
********************
Anderson Pooper update: He has hiccups after pretty much every meal and still bites our feet.
Beagle Bailey update: Still a darling beagle.
Maxwell Cat update: Still an asshole who likes sleeping in the kids' beds with them.
Theo the cat update: Spends 95 percent of his time in his hidey hole outside. Spends 2 percent inside the house hiding from everyone, spends 3 percent eating cat food in a paranoid manner.
********************
.

Between Ice and Air

There's this old woman that hangs out at the gas station near our house.  Chris and I have run into her several times. She always wants either a dollar or a cigarette.  The kids and I stopped by the gas station after school today for a snack and she was there again.  Propped up between the ICE area and the AIR.

She had on a red winter hat. Bless her heart.  I had no cash nor did I have a cigarette to give her.  The boys, especially Luke, were freaked out a little.

The Return of Theo

I'm tired of rain and I'm tired of hearing about gun rights.  I'm ready for the sun and new topics on the TV.

Yesterday was a glorious day of sitting in the same spot in bed for hours and hours, reading a book, watching reality shows, and browsing through different websites.  I fell asleep when I wanted to and, thankfully, because of the alarm, I did not oversleep and did not forget to pick up the boys from after school stuff.  Found out that starting on the 22, we can't (we meaning parents) sit in the lunchroom and watch the students do their karate thing anymore. I suppose this is the new normal after Sandy Hook. Bummed me out.

Theo is back with us. I don't know if any of you remember Theo. He was Reggie's pal. Reggie was the cat that passed away on Christmas Eve a few years back.  The nice people who took Theo in when we moved here had to find a new home for him because he wasn't allowing them to get any sleep and I think the man in the house never really liked cats.  They kept him for five years and now Theo is looking at me like, "WTF. You gave me up five years ago and now I'm supposed to be your cat again?"  :)  He still makes the "BONGGGGGGGGG" meow sound he used to.

Unfortunately, Max the cat is not happy that Theo is his new bro.  He has attacked Theo many times; once, I thought he killed him by knocking him off the high porch in the back. Theo survived though. He is very skiddish and only comes out of his little hidey hole outside for food.  I forgot how pretty he was. Very very fluffy and the biggest, green grapey eyes.

Jake and the Bookmark

Just a sweet thing I don't want to forget:

Over the past couple of days, whenever I'm reading, Jake will sit next to me and want to hold my bookmark for me. :) If I need to get up to do something, he wants to put it in the book for me.  "There ya go."

Jakers. :)

Question: Class, who shot Abe Lincoln?

"Henry Ford."

Life

Do you still agree with this?

Each generation goes further than the generation preceding it because it stands on the shoulders of that generation. You will have opportunities beyond anything we've ever known.

Ronald Reagan

Left Side

Today was a red letter day; the boys got new seats on the school bus. "Mom, we're on the left side now! We've never been on the left side!!!"---an excited Jake. Doesn't take much. :)

Books, Hair, Here

I just checked out Angela's Ashes, Within the Plantation Household: Black and White Women of the Old South, and The Futurists.  My mind is all over the damn place.

I am gonna see what appeals to me from looking through them. I want some wow moments.
********************
I had a hard time getting Jake's hair to lie down flat this morning.  It's getting so dark too.  So fine.  On his way out the door to the bus stop, his floppy hair bouncing a little, Jake stopped and turned around. "I think it's time for a hair cut, Mom."

"I know."

"At the haircut store."

"Right."

***********************
Jake's speech has improved since being in Kindergarten.  He told me that he'd been saying "here" all wrong. 
"It's heeeeerrrrrrreeeee."
He's been saying "her" for years.  We kinda like it.  "I"m over her."  "Wher?"  "Her."
"Ther?" "Her."

Death in the Afternoon

Last period of the day. Regular 9th grade English. Primarily made up of boys.  I actually had to raise my voice from my desk and say, "Can you guys please stop talking about the best way to die and do the questions on page 527?"

Kar ra tay, Jerry.

I love watching Luke in his afternoon karate class.  Yesterday he was in a small group learning new moves led by a stocky red headed boy with pink cheeks.  The kid was really happy to be the leader.  Love watching Luke's look of concentration, his yellow and black belt tied around his skinny waist, hearing their soft "i" shout, then seeing the punch, the kicking of bare feet, his tough face, and the graceful bow.  Reminds me a little of when I was on the dance team (they called it the drill team--I guess because we really couldn't dance) and we were a bunch of sweaty teenage girls, some skinny, some overweight, some pudgy. Faces flushed in the gym of CHJH, trying to learn a stupid kickline. One we never really got.  We must have looked really ridiculous at the time. :)

Books I Wanna Read

Gone Girl
One Day
Cloud Atlas
The Art of Racing in the Rain

Any other ideas?

Knocked in the Noggin

Apparently some girls shoved Jake's head when he was riding to school on the bus the other day.  They also kicked the back of Luke and Jake's seat.  This irritates me and makes me sad at the same time. Someone hurting my kid? I'll shove your stupid head. So Chris talked to the substitute bus driver on Friday about Thursday's events. Friday morning I talked to the new substitute bus driver.  (I don't think they give a crap.)
Anyway, so Monday something happens again. I don't get all the details, but the girls are being a pain to Luke. I can't tell if it's normal irritation or bullying. Sometimes it's hard to know when they relate it back to you. 
This morning I drove the kids to school myself.  I just wanted them to have a day off from school bus stuff.  Love traveling Smokey Road.  Luke was looking out at the vast fields and said, "You know what they should do here? They should plant wheat fields."
I agreed.  "Then we could have lots of bread."
"Yep."
Who doesn't like bread?

I've been doing a lot of tutoring over the past few months.  Homebound too.  It's weird, but good money.

Past few years have not been easy. They have been a real pain in the rear. Hopefully things are on the upswing though.  Let's pray.

Cold Tuesday

Hug

Hello.  It's been a while.