Summertime!!

Oh what do YOU do in the summertime?  (LDS homeys - crank up the jammin tunes!)

Got any fun summer plans?  We're not going anywhere (at least - no where major) and are having the hot new vacay - the Staycation.  That's a fancy way of saying we're staying at home, doing nothing.

The kids have a couple of low-key camps and we'll do swim lessons and some things with friends. My big goals for the summer are to help the big girls learn to cook more and to get Annie caught up some for next school year.  She'll be reading, writing, and 'rithmetic-ing it up so that we can get some gains made.  At least, that is the plan.  

Last summer, we didn't have the money to do many fun things and I didn't even get away with my friends like  I'd planned to. In some ways, it was rough - don't get me wrong. There was a (snotty, catty, unattractive) disappointment in not having the opportunity to do some fun things.  But in time, I did come to enjoy the lack of schedule and routine and how many fun things we got to do that we otherwise would never have.  We read tons of books together and then would watch the movies, I achieved THE perfect tan, and we bonded. We played more with the neighbors and had tons of sleepovers and simple, spontaneous parties.   I was sad to see my little homeys go to school at the end of vacation. It didn't start off as the summer I'd been dreaming of, but it did end up rather lovely (minus diverticulitis.)

Speaking of having a summer you weren't dreaming of - a little cutie (link below) is having a rough patch. I thought I'd link to her here so that if any of you have experienced something like this, you could share with her.  I know when I have experienced trials, it has helped immeasurably to know someone else who has been through it and who can show me the ropes. I didn't know if any of you might have a clue?  And I think we all could send warm thoughts her way...  http://www.busybeelauren.blogspot.com/ 

Ok - I'm going to the pool.  Last one in is....Marksmomm!!

Sometimes, it's best to be out of town

Well homefries, I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaack.

Did y'all check out our sweet digs (featured above?)  We know how to live!!  I wasn't sure it would float, but it did and we had a blast!

It was a great time bonding with Drama-o and Captain Jack.  We're all a little browner and a little more rested and totally not ready to deal with real life.  In a tribute to Hemingway (we were in Key West, after all) I'll let Drama share our little gem, The Pea Coat and the Sea.  

Speaking of real life, I am not at all sad to have missed out on home life for 6 days while I was gone.  See - 3.0 got some sort of creeping crud that eventually landed her in the pediatrician's office with a 104 fever.  The same day, 1.0 was complaining that her throat hurt, so at the last minute, she escorted Grandma and 3.0 to the doctor's office.  While there, the female doctor (who Mother-in-law was sure was a nurse because she is a woman) found some strep throat and a mystery infection hanging with my homeys.

Amoxicilin to the rescue!  Now, our grocery store gives out many prescriptions for free - and that is one of them.  No cost - no nothing but picking that stuff up and doling it out to your angels. Sadly, though, for free, they don't add the flavoring to that bad boy that makes kids not want to wretch it out.  Mother-in-law was wrestling trying to get the kiddos to swallow it. Stinks to be her!*  

So, Mother-in-law comes home from the "nurse" to find that the fridge had died and the freezer items had melted on the kitchen floor.  GOOD TIMES!  Luckily, our friends stowed the rest of our food for her and called the repair man. They had also picked up 3.0 from school when they called to say she had a fever and had to go home.  I love them!

I feel badly for Mother-in-law, but am not at all sad to have missed it.  Sounds to me like the PERFECT time to have been on vacation.  I came home to antibiotics-ed kids and a running fridge. 

I learned a couple of things from going away this time:

• dirty, ripped, random pea coats can be fun.
  
• kids can be sick and live without their moms.
  
• 70-year-old, leather-skinned women should not wear silver, lame bikinis. Ever.  Even with blood red lipstick.  Especially with blood red lipstick. The 5 carat diamond did not distract us enough, ya know?
  
• always show your babysitter where the thermometer is - because it's hard to explain its location over the phone bobbing in the ocean.
• no matter how much laundry you did pre-vacation, someone will still somehow find some amount of your underwear and will wash it. And will explain to you how to better get stains out.  Oh yes - feel my mortification with me, friends!  It was just utterly Fantastik. **
  

Perfect vacation - interesting home return - and now I'm ready and raring to go celebrate 2.0's birthday!  She's reached the ripe old age of seven!  Life is good...

*Update - I took the meds back to the pharmacist who laughed that my kids won't drink the stuff and added flavoring in about 45 seconds.  Ahh - a mother's touch!

**The stains were from red paint - and no, I didn't paint my walls in my panties!  The paint went through the shirt and onto the....wait - why am I explaining this again?  Apparently, I wasn't mortified enough first explanation through....

She's making a list - checking it twice...

....hoping her kids aren't naughty but nice.

Mama(Mormon's) leaaaaaaaaving town.

She'll be bobbing on some big waves

and scootering round Key West.

She's ready to have lots of fun

as her cruising buddies are the best.  WOOT

So you better not pout, 

better not cry!

Better not tell any Internet lies....

Mama(Mormon's) leaaaaaaaaaaving town!

OK folks - try not to get banned, stalked, or put on posting restrictions anywhere while I'm gone!  Be good - choose the right - and someone make sure Jackie Oh goes to bed early every night and rests a lot.   

Sure - Jackie might be in the hospital...

...but we can't only focus on that, can we?  

For those of you just turning in, my mom has been in the hospital and I have been nearly obsessed with her recovery (and showing considerable restraint, I might add) but it's time for me to move on. I can't keep reading on-line medical journals day after day about her prognosis and recovery and wondering if it's too late for me to become a nurse.  Jackie is going home today (I hope!!) and it's time to reflect on the other dramas and scares of my life.  

And my biggest drama and scare today?  The state of my home.  And more specifically...the state of my (disgusting) home pre-vacationing. And to the exact point - my biggest drama of the moment is the state of my (disgusting) home, pre-vacationing, with my mother-in-law staying here while I'm gone!

dum dum duuuuuuuuuuuuum

I told you it was a big-o problem-o.

It's one thing to clean your home.  I consider my house basically tidy. Meaning, for the most part, things won't fall on you when you walk about it.  

But it's another thing cleaning for folks who will be staying in your home. It is a big job.  I feel like my mother-in-law should be able to find the dishwashing detergent without having to move 30000000 tea towels, 2 packs of Magic Erasers, and a year's supply of Clorox Wipes to get to it.

She should be able to get a measuring cup without having approximately 1.23 million Ziploc container lids fall on her head.

The woman should be able to find the toilet paper in the master bathroom.  Currently, it is sitting in a foot bath.  Do you think that's intuitive?

sigh - I didn't think you would.

Take Spring Cleaning and add OCD to it, multiply it by 2.5 neuroses and you get the level of cleaning one must do before your mother-in-law lives in your home and cares for your children when you are not there.

I tackled the kitchen yesterday. I cleaned the funk out of the fridge and freezer and realphabatized the spices in the pantry.  I relocated the hundreds of cleaning supplies under the sink so she won't think I'm wasteful.  I tried to address the cabinets.  That, gentle readers, is where failure began.  I had hoped to reduce the amount of carnage that happens when one opens that Ziploc container cabinet.  But I'm weak.  I found a  cookbook in there and started to read it instead.  weak weak weak

Last night I asked myself, "Self - what the monkey are you going to do?  This house is NOT ready for someone to live in it unless, of course, you want them to think you are a scum bum."

My innerMormon is, apparently, much less likely to give two rips if my mother-in-law sees the Diet Dr. Pepper (affectionately referred to here as DDP) lids under the sofa.  Her best solution was to leave the house as-is and pretend to have booby trapped it. When I told her April Fool's was over and she'd never buy it, my innerMormon suggested ignoring the messes and instead, making a "gross stuff" scavenger hunt for everyone.  The first person to find things like 12 year old Neosporin tubes in medicine cabinets and the kids' rotten Easter eggs hidden in the closets (that smell to high heaven but I can't find) could win a prize.

A prize like - never having to babysit here again!

I've decided to squash my innerMormon and go with my initial idea.

We came, we camped, we kicked some butt

So - we Mormons are camping people. We liked it. It rained some - and that was even funnish (no matter how my cussing might have indicated otherwise.)

The miniMormons were good. Goodish. 1.0 and 2.0 were especially faaaaaantastic. 3.0 was sicker than a dog. She about coughed up a lung, but what's a vacation without the wonderment of if an ER trip is in one's future?

Now, I try to keep this blog anonymous. So there's quite a bit I can't post. Like, you know, my social security number. I'd love to show my creative projects, but many are out on display in our home, which would surely out me. (And my ward is having a competition to see who can find my blog first - little cuties.) But as none of my homeys hang in my master bath, it's kosher to show you that. And I've tried to find some anonymous-y trip pictures to share, since I can sense y'all are clamoring for the snapshots. (It's amazing how I read your mind, I know.)

So! Here's our site. We put those tents up ourselves. OH YES WE DID! Mr. Mormon was a Scout person, so he knows campy-ness. But I was still impressed that I helped (did I mention the rain?) without having a wicked potty mouth and without wrecking a tent!



On our trip, we did plenty of campy things. We looked at stars (it's scary that my children know more about constellations than I do), we watched movies outside at night, we swam and walked and played and went on a wagon ride.

We canoed. I think it's safe to share this completely unidentifiable photo of 3 Mormons canoeing. (2.0 and I kayaked.) Aren't they cute? Why do I ask you - you can't see 'em? But you get the gist....



The best part of camping, IMO, is the physical activity. Ft. Wilderness is a huge camp-place. Like, ginormous. And boy, we really worked hard getting around. We were all about communing with nature. And our golf cart helped us commune. It worked so hard toting us all around the park. Thanks Golfie! I surely lost a pound or two from your hauling my buns around.



All in all, camping was a blast. I wouldn't recommend taking a sick kid with you, but I WOULD recommend Ft. Wilderness. It is real as real can be camping. No one is setting up your tent for ya or cooking your dinner over the fire. But the golf cart alone makes it aaaaaaall worth it. 0-20 in like, 3 minutes!

I think I can I think I can...

Mr. Mormon and I are in some serious need of r and r. (No - not "rhythm and rioting" - "rest and relaxation"!) Vacations are pricey and we are already going on a few this year. But we wanted to do something now. Something quick, inexpensive, and that will bond the family in memories is what we've had in mind.

While we are so in love for cruises, there's only so many of those one can do in a year. And it's still a little nippy in Florida some days to have a beach getaway. (Although last week, it was 87!!)

What's a family of vacation-starved, fiscally-minded Mormons to do?



thud

That's right. We're a-camping.

We are thinking the purchase of all the equipment counts as shoring up our emergency preparedness materials. And we'll be camping at Ft. Wilderness (out at Disney), so if (when) I cannot figure out how to cook over a fire, I can take a quick drive to tourist-ville and commandeer us some grub.

We got tents and lanterns and things last night, and frankly, if the kind of folks who shop in the Wal Mart camping area share a site with us, I will run for my life. I've never seen so many tattoos, mullets, and ammunition requests in all my days. It was like being at a Legion. (Juuuuuust kidding, Drama - seeing if you're paying attention, there!)

If anyone has any great camp-food recipes, I'm game. I figured one day I can make chili and another can be tin-foil dinners. We'll have a grill, so some grilled chicken or burgers sounds about right, too.

Although I've become as citified as a girl can be, I did grow up camping, and I hope it will come back to me. I used to love waking up on a mountain in some far-away city and hearing everyone start up their day. I guess we'll see if I've got it in my to re-commune with nature. If nothing else, the car has A/C and XM radio.