I have been horrible about keeping up with my blog, reading the blogs of my friends, or doing anything blog related. I am vowing to improve on that.

I am truly ready for the snow and cold to end. This picture of Ethan and Ike is one of my favorites from last week’s snow storm. I really have a ton of favorites, but this one of a boy and his Border Collie makes me smile. The two of them were walking ahead of me, and every few seconds Ike would sneak a backward glance to ensure I was right there behind the two of them.

We didn’t get much snow yesterday, and I’m thankful the storm missed us. I’m not a big football fan, but I do feel obligated to make some football food today. Hot wings and Mexican layer dip. Both are things Adam likes, and he was so good yesterday when I needed an entire day to recover from an out of control Girls’ Night on Friday.

First off, I started the day thinking it was Thursday. That always throws me. Once I settled into the realization that it was Wednesday, I was ready to move forward with my typical Wednesday.

Drop Ethan off at school. Check!

Stopped by the grocery store on the way home. Not at all typical, but a good idea. I was in desperate need of trash bags, laundry detergent, dish soap, napkins and paper towels. All necessities. Again, a good decision.

Next, I came home with the intention of walking my usual walk on the beach with my usual walking partner. I wanted to do an early, quick five miles and then head over to my parents. My mom sounded a little down, my dad had been stuck in the house and yesterday wasn’t a stellar day for him. There are good days and there are bad days where my dad is concerned, and sometimes just having me over helps. It turned out that Janet wasn’t able to walk this morning, so I headed straight to my mom’s, and luckily she and I were able to get a few miles in, and then we took my dad out to lunch. It ended up being a good day. My dad looked good and he was happy to go out, and to see me.

After lunch, I headed home and did a few things in the house before I needed to pick Ethan and Kaiden up from running club. Picked them up, took them to Bravo Frozen Custard and then we went to Pier One because I wanted to buy a few reed diffusers at the 75% off price. They had the apple cinnamon scent on sale, and while it’s considered a Christmas scent, I just consider it a good winter scent. The kids then wanted to go to Pet Smart to look at the dogs playing in the hotel’s area. Rathern than do that today, I promised we’d do Pet Smart and Skinny Dip Frozen Yogurt after next week’s running club.

I wasn’t in the mood to cook, so I ran out and picked up KFC’s grilled chicken. We ate dinner, did homework, Ethan read a little, I goofed a little and now I need to head to bed because I need to have Ethan and Kaiden at school by 7:15 for jump rope club.

Good night.

You know that’s about as cute as it gets.

I was going through some of the Christmas photos from previous years, and found this one.  I can’t believe that four years has gone by since this photo was taken. Time is flying past us way too quickly.

Ethan’s school pictures came home, and we’ll be doing the retakes. But his expression was the least of my concerns today. I got quite a bombshell dropped on me today regarding someone from my distant past. At first I laughed, and then I got all sweaty and weird feeling, and now I just feel like a Mack truck has run me over.

I will further discuss this issue in the future. Right now, I don’t even know how to address it.

Gratuitous Picture Of Yourself Wednesday
A weekly picture of yourself shot by you or someone else, can be shot on other days, but only posted on Wednesdays . Why? Because it’s Wednesday…why not.

Me with sweet baby Ashton, asleep in my arms. It’s one of my favorite memories of the little dude.  Look at those sweet red cheeks!

Sadly, I can’t find the picture of me and Misty with Ralphie and his wife, but I did get this e-mail from Ralphie May and thought I’d share his news.

Hey Everybody,

~ Ralphie

Ethan and I were out walking and scootering earlier this evening, and he stopped about a half block ahead of me, and yelled for me to hurry.  He found this tiny baby bird, right at the edge of the street.  Poor thing was chirping its head off.  We looked for a nest, and didn’t see one, but there was one tree with branches very high up.  I reluctantly picked the bird up and we headed home with it.  Searched for worms, and didn’t fine any.   My flower beds are usually FULL of them, but when I needed one, there wasn’t a single one to be found.  I took a little bread and added water to it, and was able to feed the baby bird several bites.  I was surprised how easily it took to me feeding it by hand.  It ate, fell asleep and woke five minutes later chirping for more food, and I gave it more.  And then I googled what to do!  From everything I read, if I wanted to keep it, then I would need to feed it every few minutes, since robins return to the nest 400 times a day to feed their young.  I don’t think this one was a robin, but I’m sure it needed to be fed all night and day, every few minutes.  I then saw that it was perfectly okay to make a makeshift nest and put it in another tree or tall bush close to the tree you believe it feel from.  So we headed back with the bird to the place we found it.  Luckily, I had found an empty nest a few days ago, and kept it.  I set the nest in a tall shrub, and hopefully the mother will come back to it.  I did see a catbird flying around the area and chirping, and from what I read, the mother will hear the baby and go right back to it. Contrary to popular belief, birds will go back to their young if touched by human hands.  They don’t smell well, and have no problem with a baby being put back into the nest or an area close to the nest.

I’m having a very hard time wrapping my mind around the fact that Ethan will graduate from second grade in less than three weeks.   What happened to this school year?  It didn’t just fly by, it traveled at warp speed!  I guess what bothers me most about the school year moving way too quickly is that the time traveling doesn’t slow down for the summer months.  Before I blink, Ethan will be entering the third grade.  An eight  year old, third grader!  I just want to bottle him up until I can find a way to slow things down. 

I do plan to make the most of each day.  I want us to enjoy the sunshine, the water, each other and hopefully create memories.  Some of my favorite childhood memories are those lazy summer days.  Summer days with no schedules, or no place you have to be.  Forget the camps, the lessons, the sports practices.  Summer should be all about not having to do anything, but finding a way to have fun.  

I always try to remind myself that one of the reasons my childhood was so great is that we had no pressure growing up. We played outside, went to the beach, ate popsicles, and waited for the sun to set so we could catch fireflies.  The simple stuff.  I’m doing my best to make life simple for Ethan, and truly, one of his favorite parts of each day is riding his scooter in the evening.  As the days get hotter, we’ll spend more evenings swimming or perhaps heading to the oceanfront to catch a free concert or movie.  Forget about air conditioned theaters or pre-packaged fun.  I want to do it the old fashioned way.

The other day I asked Misty if I could borrow some of the paperbacks on her closet shelf. When she made her move into her new place, I noticed she had a few books I had not yet read. One of the books she gave me was Lucky by Alice Sebold, and it the book I am currently reading. I only read during the summer, only read outside. There are a few reasons for this, the most important being that I do not have to wear reading glasses when I am out in the natural sunlight. It is a blessing to read without glasses. Another reason is that I prefer to read in the fresh air.

I am about one third into this book, and I love it. It’s not lighthearted, it’s not cheerful. It is real and it is tragic, but it is so well written. Who would have thought that an autobiographical account of someone’s rape could make me laugh out loud? The humor this author infuses with the truth amazes me. It is difficult for me to not come into the house and pick it up again, but I have my traditions. One of them being my summer reading outside. It is yet one more thing I look forward to, and one more reason I appreciate the summer.

I expect to be finished with this book by the weekend, and at that point, I will pick up the next book. A Girl Named Zippy. Misty had two copies of this one and I am hoping she will read it along with me so we can pretend at something resembling a book club. I have never been in a book club, although I’ve tried, quite unsuccessfully, to start one more than a few times.

Perhaps, I can get some of my blog buddies to join me in an online book club. Any takers? And even if you don’t want to play book club with me, are there any books that you would like to suggest for my summer reading?

I am a huge fan of giraffes.  HUGE.  A couple of weeks ago I did one of those facebook surveys where you list your five favorite, and of course, giraffes were Numero Uno on my list of favorite zoo animals.  Ever since Misty read that, she’s been sending me cute little giraffe pictures with sweet captions every few days.

Pictures like this:

and this:

Cute, huh?  And even if you’re not a fanatical animal lover like me, it’s pretty hard not to fall in love with a giraffe, isn’t it?

Honestly, I really love all the African animals. Zebras, hippos, gorillas, chimps, bongos, elephants, gazelle, cheetah, lions…you get the picture.  My dream vacation is to go on an African Safari.  Since I was a little girl, it’s something I’ve always wanted.  Now I just need to find someone who has the desire to finance this trip.  Or I need to win a contest that will send me on my dream vacation.  Anyone know any contests I can enter that are giving away such a trip?