Interesting Weekend

That's right, we had an interesting weekend.

Saturday was nice and lazy in the early morning. But, as Mom and Dad were set to come over around noon or so, I got off my butt and de-cluttered and dusted and vacuumed the living room. Dad expressed surprise at the lack of disorganization and so I was gratified.

Henry and I packed into the back of their car and rode with them to the seafood place at the farmer's market. Ben, a seafood hater, stayed home. We enjoyed a wonderful meal and then walked around the garden and produce stalls. Mom and Dad gave Henry a few dollars in change, which he spent on a little green and white striped spiky succulent plant. I looked around on the internet and think it's a Haworthia Fasciata Zebra. I think we might be able to keep it alive. Henry was really proud of himself because he was able to count out the change to pay for it. It was a nice afternoon and we looked at all the flowers and plants, sampled strawberries and stuff. Mom bought a few things and then the wind really started picking up. Then Mom got a call from my sister indicating there was a tornado watch in effect, so we decided to head home. Mom and Dad departed for their place and the Tilleys hung out and waited to see how the weather would turn out.

It started raining, dumping tons of water; there was a mini river running across our front lawn and the next door neighbor's yard flooded all the way over the back corner of their fence and rose almost up to the back of their house. When a tornado was reported in Sanford, we went down to the basement. Dori the cat crouched on the top basement step and yowled ominously. There was thunder and from the basement window we could see hail and lots of rain blowing around crazily outside. Henry thought it was neat that it was "green" outside. The light outside really was green, probably from all the leaves and stuff blowing around. We kept the radio on and listened as new and closer locales reported the tornado's swift progress east. Happily for us, the tornado went just south of our neighborhood. We went back upstairs and the rain let up pretty quickly after that, and all the water drained out of the yard. I was afraid the basement would flood again, but we escaped that. The only damage we had was a bunch of leaves, a few dead branches, and those wormy pollen things off the oak trees scattered all over the yard. After dinner the sun was out and the birds were chirping happily, so we went out for a walk around the greenway.

Sunday was nice and uneventful, we went to church and took an afternoon nap. Now Henry has the week off for Easter break.

And the living room is trashed again. Things are definitely back to normal.

Hold the Flies

I once asked Ben incredulously, "You don't like pumpkin pie?"

"No," he replied, annoyed by my incredulity.

"Not even with whipped cream on top?"

Ben, to my best recollection, rolled his eyes. "That's like asking somebody if they like crap*." Then he added with his best sarcasm, "Not even with flies on it?"

Yesterday he asked me what the stuff in the freezer that looked like frozen diarrhea was.

The stuff in the freezer was leftover filling from my attempt at some medieval food. I hosted book club last Friday and since we read "Doomsday Book," I decided to serve up some period food. I looked up medieval recipes online and found one that looked somewhat harmless. Cuskynoles are kind of these ravioli things with fruit and spices inside. Well, I was feeling ambitious despite the fact that I'd have to mash together an apple, pear, and a bunch of dates, almonds, figs, and currants. Not being in possession of a food processor, I had to use the blender. Luckily I was smart enough to do the almonds first. Then I mixed the pear chunks and figs, and when that wasn't going so well I added the apple chunks. After I accidentally chopped off the end of my spatula, I had to dump everything out so I could fish the plastic chunk out of the sticky, slippery goo. Boy, was that fun. Then I had to rinse off the blender because by that time it was completely covered in in glop. In the end I just dumped everything back in the blender and ground it all up into uniform disgustingness (that's not a real word, I know, but it really conveys my feelings at the time). After I rolled out the dough and filled each cuskynole, I boiled them and then grilled them under the broiler. They reminded me a little of pumpkin pie, but not really. I ought to have used about half the cloves called for. So no, I didn't love the heck out of them. Some of them did get eaten at book club, though. Luckily for everyone I had enough time to make some bread to go with the cuskynoles. I wanted to make peasant bread to compare with the rich people food, so I went to the store for some rye and barley flour. They didn't have any, so instead of shopping around I opted for some spelt flour and buckwheat. I added some whole wheat flour and a little all purpose flour so it wouldn't bake into a brick. The bread turned out better than I thought, especially since I wasn't going by any particular recipe.

And though the cuskynoles weren't my favorite, it was such a huge pain to make the filling that I couldn't just throw it out. That may happen at some future date, but I'm sure by then I won't feel guilty anymore.

Saturday was fun. Ben, Henry and I went to Asheboro to see my nieces and nephew get baptized. Afterwards we went out to eat and hung out at Mom and Dad's. Too bad the weather was nasty. This is why spring is not my favorite. Nice eighty degree weather for a week or so and then it slams down back into the forties. Blecch.

Life's good in spite of the weather, though. Just thought you'd like to know.

* Ben's version was slightly less printable (this is a PG blog).

Happy Birthday, Henry!

I'm Dreaming of a White Boxing Day

This was the first Christmas in a long time that I didn't hear any pleas for Legos. In fact there was hardly any nagging at all. This year Henry decided that he wanted a Wii for Christmas. Ben and I were hoping that we could skip a generation of gaming consoles and wait for the next new thing to come out, but Henry has friends who have Wiis, got a taste of the good life and decided he liked it. He wrote a letter to Santa indicating that he'd been good and that he wanted a Wii and a Wii game. Much like the kid in the Christmas Story movie, Henry knew that talking face to face with Santa Claus would seal the deal. He finally got his chance at the church Christmas party. I didn't get to hear the whole conversation, and I know Santa didn't make any promises, but he did assure Henry that he knew Henry had been a good boy. That was all it took. Henry's faith was cemented; he knew he was getting a Wii for Christmas.

Christmas morning Ben and I stayed in bed, listening for Henry's descent into the living room. There was no shouts of joy or exclamations of surprise. Henry came quietly into our room and announced (much in the same way one announces the sun has risen), "I got my Wii." The red one like he wanted, and 2 Wii games.

I have to say I was surprised by his calm demeanor, but it was really awesome to witness Henry realizing that there can be an assurance of hope and faith rewarded. I already knew that, though. I have Ben and Henry.

And it snowed on the 26th. Quite a bit for our neck of the woods, and for once it was the good kind of snow you can actually do stuff with. So we had our walk through a rare winter wonderland to the park and then went home and made a snow man.

Henry samples snow:

And Frosty:

I Can Tell I'm Truly a Mom Because...

When I'm getting ready to apply some chap stick, I notice there are tiny teeth gouges in it.

Some More Shoddy Workmanship

Yesterday I was free, so I went over to Meemaw and Peepaw's and helped Peepaw put a new door on his pool shed. Peepaw was fond of the old door, but finally conceded that once there was sufficient rot on the door such that the hinges irreparably fell off, it was time for a new one. He put one together with a frugality that puts Ben to shame, consisting of the thinest, cheapest plywood available, strengthened by a border of one by twos. When I got there the new door was already constructed painted, but unfortunately, due to the agedness of the shed, which lists slightly to the left, it was slightly too big for the aperture. So, with my trusty skill saw and its not quite sharp blade, I sawed off some of the door. It still wouldn't fit, so Peepaw suggested sawing off part of the siding above the door frame. So I got a chair and worked the saw. Eventually, we made things work. Of course, once the last screws for the hinges were in and the door in a functional state, Peepaw noticed that we'd put it on upside down-- not that he cared in the least. Oh well. It ain't pretty, but it's the same color as the shed and it opens and shuts, so it's all good. Especially since he decided that the old "Welcome to our OOL" sign didn't have to go on the new door.

Halloween

This year we attended the annual Chili and Soup Cookoff/Fall Canival/Trunk-or-Treat at church. Ben and I went as characters from The Prisoner, Number 6 and Number 2, respectively. Two people out of the hundred or so in attendance actually knew who we were. Henry went as Mario. We ate well and had a lot of fun. Sunday evening we went trick-or-treating in the neighborhood. Ben wanted me to exploit my lack of height and "dress up", i.e., conceal the fact that I'm a thirty five year old woman in order to "double the haul," as he put it. Just because I'd done exactly that when I was nineteen or so-- wore a mask, trench coat and gloves and pretended to be a kid and got a bunch of candy. Unfortunately, Ben brought this up an hour or so before nightfall and we didn't have a suitable disguise on hand and I wasn't about to cut up a sheet. I offered to buy Ben a bag of candy, but he wanted the "free" and "variety" that only trick-or-treating can provide. Plus I think he wanted to witness the thrill of deception. Oh, well. Maybe next time, if I'm feeling especially mischievous.

Number 2 (me) and Number 6 (Ben, duh), and Rover. I wanted a white balloon, but yellow was as close as I could get in this size.

And Henry.

A Dearth of Blogging Means I've been Otherwise Occupied

I've probably mentioned before that October is pretty much my busiest month of the year. Anyway, I went and made it busier by getting the house painted. The blue didn't turn out as gray as I though it would, but you know what, the house is painted and I'm done worrying about it. For those who might be interested:

My birthday came and went without too much fanfare. I had a cold and didn't really feel like doing anything, so I told Ben all I wanted for my birthday was to not have to cook. Ben fulfilled my wish by taking Henry out to McDonald's and bringing me some carry out from Boston Market. Ahh, one of my best birthdays ever. I'm married to an awesome man, people.

I managed to stay healthy enough to get the cars inspected amidst a multitude of other errands, and I got to read a whole bunch of books. Then last week, after recovering from another plague, I was feeling well enough to volunteer the Fun Run at Henry's school. I counted laps again this year, which was very difficult since there were two classes running at the same time. I had about ten numbers to keep track of, which gets tricky when the kids run in packs. After that I had an hour to kill before I was scheduled to don the bear suit. Yes, somehow I got roped into volunteering to wear the mascot suit, even though I pointed out that the suit would probably be too big. Probably. Yeah. Did I mention that most of the older kids at the school are as tall or taller than me? The suit's crotch hit me at the knee, and the legs had to be taped against my ankles so they wouldn't drag the ground under the bear bootie things. In order to minimize the spread of germs, everyone who wore the bear suit had to wear a surgical mask under the bear head, so a stifling experience became more so. Plus I was practically blind, as the head only provided vision to the outside world through two tiny eye holes. Luckily there was a pair of middle school kids escorting me around, otherwise I'd have tripped and fallen or become lost. The little kids didn't seem to see anything funny about me, but the older ones were curious to know who the short person in the suit was. It wasn't really all that terrible an experience, but I think I'll opt out next year.

Yesterday was busy with a morning planning meeting for upcoming Primary activities, then book club at one. I had just said bye to the last of the book clubbers when Henry got home and we all headed out to the state fair. This was our first time taking Henry to the fair and it was really fun to see his reaction to the crowds and noise and lights, and the livestock. Henry refused to touch the baby chicks. I couldn't figure out why until I remembered that he was once bitten by a bird. I guess it was good for the chicks though, who I imagine were probably sick and tired of being picked up and stroked by fairgoers. Henry wasn't pleased with the smell of the barn that housed all the cows (it didn't stink that bad) and was happy to get out of there so he could go on some rides. His first ride was a great big slide, but his favorite was one where he got inside a giant hamster ball and rolled around in a pool. I rode with him in a bumper car (he ran and picked out a green one) and he finished up with a trip through a fun house. Then we ate, watched pig and goat races, bought some cotton candy, saw some more exhibits and went home.

Inside the hamster ball:

At the pig races:

Getting Ready to Spruce Things Up

Ben and I bought our house around Thanksgiving of 2002. At the time it was in need of some repairs and updates, etc. We've taken care of some of the more pressing issues, but more or less have ignored the sad state of its exterior. This year, in the very near future, we're finally going to paint the house. I'd gladly take on the task myself, but being a huge chicken, I'm hardly prepared to stand atop a fully extended thirty foot ladder to repair water damaged eaves, let alone paint the things. Ben's not too keen on it, either, so we're going to get a couple of estimates and let the professionals handle this one.

This afternoon I got bored and took a photo of the house, planning to doctor it up to get an idea of a color scheme.

Here's our lovely abode as it appears in it's current aesthetically-challenged state:

(You can't really tell from the front how high it really is in the back. The yard slopes to the rear of the property and there's a full basement at ground level in the back.)

And here's my sad, lame, cartoonishly bad attempt to modify things:

It's not the exact shade I want, but as you can plainly see, I'm somewhat deficient in the photo-shopping department.

I emailed my handiwork to Ben for a little feedback, and he immediately asked me to send him the original photo. In a moment he sent me this, plainly indicating that he didn't like my sloppy paint job:

Then I guess he second-guessed his work and sent me a new photo of how he really wants the house to look:

I suppose we would need the guns to protect the pile of money, which we'd really need to afford the liability insurance for the waterslide. Then again, I'm fairly certain there's a town ordinance forbidding that kind of thing.

Family, Fruit, Heights, and English

This past weekend Ben and I took Henry to visit his great-grandparents over by Pilot Mountain. It was a fun trip, not too hot or humid, we got to take a walk on the trail through the woods and play with a kitten that's taken up residence in the mysterious tarp-covered pile of who-knows-what next to the barn. Grandma would've liked for us to have taken her home with us, but I had some reservations about bringing an ear mite infested, possibly wormy barn kitty into my relatively clean house. Plus I figured barn kitty would much rather stay in the country and live a fun-filled life of killing mice and other vermin, as opposed to vying with Dori over who gets to hog the favorite lazing spots.

Anyway, most of the fruit trees were dropping ripe fruit, so we were able to bring home a bunch of apples and pears and a bag of blueberries. Grandma also threw in some homemade blueberry jam. I've already made a pie with the blueberries. It takes a special kind of weirdo that won't eat pie. I live with two. Oh, well. More for me.

After the family visit we went up to the mountain. Remembering my past acrophobic wuss-out the last time we went up there, I decided to let Ben and Henry hike around the knob while I hung out and enjoyed the view of protective trees and solid footing. Which turned out really good because I wasn't there to see it when Henry slipped a few times, even if nothing came of it because Ben was holding his hand the entire time. Still, it didn't do me any good to see two little guys running recklessly ahead of their parents down the steps at the head of the trail, and then hear somebody else yelling at their little boy to, "stop, Stop, STOP!!!" I don't know if it's being older and more experienced in life, or just being a mother that gets me stressed when little kids run around precipices, but I just wasn't willing to push it this time.

Sunday was one hundred percent stress free. We've been released from the Spanish branch and as much as I love our Hispanic friends, it sure is nice to be hearing English again. It was especially nice to know that Henry was getting something out of sacrament meeting; he still has to sit still and try to be reverent, but at least he understands what's being said.

All in all, I'm happy to report that life is good. Now I'm off to mow the lawn before it gets too hot.

The End of Summer Vacation and Getting Back to a Regular Schedule

This morning Henry was a little tired after breakfast. Maybe this will make for a quiet evening. I can dream, anyway.

Today was the first day of the new school year. Henry's now in first grade. I didn't get weepy or anything when he started kindergarten, nor did I this year. Mostly I was just excited to get him on the bus, especially after a day like yesterday when I was certain he was doing his best to purposefully make me go insane.

It felt kind of awesome making him get up at six a.m. I'm evil, I know.

Before we went out to the bus stop I took his picture.

When I saw it I thought of his kindergarten photo and remembered how little he used to be. In case anyone cares, here's a reminder:

This year Henry's a year older and a little taller, maybe a little wiser, and can read and write, but he's still as sweet and good natured as ever. I felt a little guilty letting him take his schools supplies in himself this year. His book bag was kind of heavy, and since it was too full to fit his lunch box he had to carry that, plus another grocery bag with the kleenex and ziplock bags. I suppose he'll be okay lugging all that stuff to his classroom. We went to the Meet the Teacher open house thing on Monday so he knows where he's supposed to go. He's got the same bus driver as last year, so no need to worry about him getting home. I heard good things about his teacher, one of the neighbor kids had her one year and and said she was great, "as long as you don't get on her dark side." I had to chuckle over that. I'm sure Henry will be fine.

Now I just have to figure out how to organize all the free time I'll be luxuriating in.

It's Official

So after a year of getting our crap together, Ben and I have finally finished up with our application/paperwork/interviews to begin the adoption process. We're now featured on itsaboutlove.org.

I think the hardest part about getting our profile online was coming up with the teaser. It's not spectacular or anything, and really, if it sucks-- well, I told you that was the hardest part.

A friend took our family portrait. He was very generous with his time and patience, especially with Henry, even taking the time to do a few silly shots to get some of the wiggles out.

My favorite shot:

Catching Up

I ought to be more diligent in recording the goings on in my life. This month's been fairly busy with different stuff, and already I've forgotten half of it. I think a lot of it has to do with the summer weather and all the headaches I've gotten transitioning from air conditioning to sweltering heat. Aside from that, Henry and I have been having fun.

We had a fun trip to the lake with Grandma, Papaw, Maggie, and all the cousins. Dad brought his ice cream maker and Maggie and I quickly threw the ice cream ingredients together and everybody headed to the lake. Mom and I went separately to the store to pick up a few things we'd forgotten and when we met up with them at the lake Dad announced that we'd forgotten to put sugar in the ice cream, so we had to turn around a go back for some sugar. So my first joint attempt at ice cream was a little off, but it turned out okay.

We had a church activity the next day, so I borrowed the ice cream maker and had another go at it. I wasn't sure how it would turn out since I used a different recipe and it was my first solo attempt. And I was the only one who brought home made ice cream, so that didn't help my self confidence much. The activity went well. All the kids had fun releasing butterflies and watching the cub scouts launch water rockets. After the water balloon fight (two hours of filling balloons for two minutes of play) we went home. Ben acted a little sad that there was no more ice cream, which is unusual because he doesn't even like ice cream (weirdo), so I made another batch just for him the next week. And who's been eating that ice cream? That's right. Henry and me.

The graphics card in my computer went kaput and so Ben frankensteined (his terminology) it for me until he could get a new computer, which he did last week. Ben's happy about his new computer, although it was a little iffy at first. He builds his own machines now in the name of saving a buck and this time he had a little trouble with the motherboard/memory configuration. He figured it out though, and now I've got his old one.

Ben and I celebrated our eleventh anniversary. Ben purposefully didn't remind me to see if I'd forget. I did. Oh, well. We took Henry out for pizza at Rudino's. Life is good.

Can't think of anything else. Upcoming events: Henry begins first grade next week, the rest to be announced.

Have a good one everybody.

A Trophy for Henry

Henry got his snorkel set Monday night. Tuesday it rained all day. Tuesday Henry whined all day. He demanded to go swimming, cursed the rain, the cool weather, the lightning, and me. We stayed home and built things out of Legos. Henry continued to whine and complain. I only just managed not to go insane. Wednesday was much better. No rain, no thunder or lightning. Blue skies with big fluffy white clouds, not too hot, and the pool water was the right temperature. Henry had a blast. He mastered the snorkel, learned to swim slowly and to float on his face, and he taught himself how to swim backwards. He was so proud of himself that he announced that he needed a trophy.

Nee-nee was prepared and provided the trophy, that very afternoon, in the the form of a Fushigi ball. The ball had just arrived that very day in the mail. Apparently they'd seen an ad on TV and Henry had asked for the floating ball. They were both a little disappointed when they found out the whole floating thing was an illusion. I thought it was kind of funny, though. We sat and watched the video that came with the ball and I helped Henry understand that even though the ball looked like it floated, "The Amazing Kenny" had spent many years practicing in his grandma's basement so that one day he could impress people with his sleight of hand magic and finally get a girlfriend. Of course I later regretted my sarcasm when I found out that Henry thought that everything I'd said was true, and so I had to further explain that I was only teasing and knew absolutely nothing about "The Amazing Kenny" or any alleged basement dwelling.

Henry loves his trophy, though, and any initial disappointment was completely eclipsed when he was able to amaze some of his friends with the ball later that night.

Hurray for the Amazing Henry!

Family Heirloom

Recently Ben's mom was doing some house cleaning/purging and came across one of Ben's old t-shirts. I gave it to Henry.

This is Ben circa 1984.


This is Henry circa today.

Henry Learns a Few New Tricks

Since this has probably been one of the hottest summers I can remember, Henry and I have spent a lot of time at the pool. Last year he learned to dog paddle, but wasn't into getting his head wet. This year, thanks to peer pressure, Henry got up enough courage to swim under water. Then last Thursday I taught him how to fetch a dive stick. Granted, it was in the shallow end, but for Henry, who at the beginning of summer wouldn't even put his whole head under water, this is pretty awesome.

Friday Henry and I went to Mom and Dad's. Maggie came down with Wesley. We decided to fix dinner, which meant driving to Asheboro and buying groceries. We made a roasted chicken, corn on the cob, mashed potatoes, salad, and salsa. Dad came home just long enough to pick up Wolfe and take him to a movie. Mom had a funeral to go to and ate on the way home, so our lovely dinner was enjoyed by Maggie, Wesley, and myself. Henry sampled the chicken and pronounced it "gross," refused everything else, and would only eat chips and salsa. Oh, well, at least he got some vegetables in him. After dinner Maggie and I started making lemon pound cake. Only after we'd gotten most of it thrown together did we discover that the lemon juice we'd just bought was missing. It's a half hour drive back to town, so we turned the house over looking for that stupid plastic lemon, hoping that Wesley had mislaid it somewhere where we could actually find it again. After a while we gave up. The lemon juice in the fridge was a little old. The expiration date was a little smudgy but the year looked like it started with a nine, so we tossed that. Then Maggie found an little unopened bottle on Mom's food storage shelf. Upon opening it, the liquid inside was a little chunky and grayish green. The expiration date on it was sometime in 1999. Apparently Mom and Dad don't have much use for lemon juice. We added a cup of cocoa to the cake instead. It turned out okay, not as good as what Mom usually makes, but good enough. Then we went for a ride on the pond, all four of us in one kayak. It was right at sunset and the bats started coming out to eat the bugs flying over the water while the heron circled overhead. We only had a little trouble docking; upon exiting the kayak Henry missed the bank and sloshed right in the mud.

Saturday we helped Mom and Dad prepare for their Pioneer Day party, i.e. cleaned the house. We hooked up the sprinkler and sent Henry and Wesley out to play, Henry in his boxer briefs and Wesley in his birthday suit. After we got them cleaned up we noticed that the tap water was going brown. Whoops, seems we overtaxed their well. Since we were leaving before the party, Dad took Henry and me on a tractor ride. I sat it the trailer with Henry while Dad drove us through the woods and raced down the hill in the field in front of the pond. Then Dad made ice cream and Beth and the rest of the cousins showed up. So we had ice cream and some more cake, then it started raining, so we stayed a little longer and Henry played with his cousins, and then after the downpour let up, Henry and I went home to have dinner with Ben.

Sunday I taught the sharing time lesson at church and we stayed after for a baptism-- it was cool because the girl getting baptized was the aunt of Henry's friend at school, and since his friend came for the baptism, Henry invited him to come to our house after and play.

Today was another hot day, so we skipped the park and went swimming again. Because Henry kept practicing his diving, (and because he's been nagging me for a while) I promised to get him a snorkel if he could swim down and fetch the dive stick again. He succeeded and so after dinner and I took him to pick one out. And he wore it for the rest of the night.

Incidentally, in case anyone cares, Maggie found the lemon in the back of her car.

Productivity Amongst a Spate of Laziness

A couple days ago I decided it was time to replace the old ceiling light in our office/computer room. Ben suggested we install a ceiling fan. So we did:

Time For Another Post

The summer's been hot so far, and the heat's been keeping us indoors when we're not swimming. Last week wasn't so bad, though. Thursday Henry and I went to see Grandpa and Grandma Tilley. The weather was awesome, rather spring-like with minimal humidity. We had lunch and a fun time building an enormous tower out of straws. Out at the pond Henry found a ditch full of tiny frogs no bigger than my fingernail. Henry had a good time exploring and collecting stuff. He brought home a variety of flowers, a green apple, and an onion and a potato from the garden.

Friday Henry and I went with Maggie, Wesley, Papaw and Uncle Dave to the Thresher's Reunion in Denton. We walked around looking at old tractors and watched a couple of demonstrations with horses running antique farm equipment. Henry didn't feel like sitting on a horse, so he posed for a photo on the ground next to it instead.


We got to feed some goats and look at more old stuff and finally, finally we reached the little train depot so Henry could ride the train. On the train I saw something I thought was funny. This kid was wearing a t-shirt with two pit bulls on it, one howling mournfully, captioned with "I DON'T LIKE TO FIGHT BUT I AIN'T SKARD (sic) TO BLEED." The word bleed was really big and flood filled with an image of the confederate flag. Later I did a google search to see if I could find one for myself, but alas, I was unsuccessful. Must be a vintage tee.

We had a busy few weeks and now that things have slowed down a little I thought I'd post something.

We did a Johnson family beach trip a couple weekends ago. That was a lot of fun, even if I did have to sleep on the couch and listen to Henry snore all night. Henry got a boogie board from Grandma and Papaw and thought that was the coolest thing ever. We also took a tour of the battleship North Carolina, which I'd never done before. It really made me appreciate air conditioning and modern times and the fact that I'll probably never have to live on a battleship. So many thanks to Peepaw and all the brave men and women who've spent time on one in time of war or peace.

On the way home from the beach, we decided to take the ferry to Southport and head home from there. Henry's never been on a ferry before, so it was fun to watch him enjoy the new experience.

Just as we were approaching Castle Hayne we hit this huge traffic jam, one of those where you sit so long you have to throw it in park and kill the engine to save gas. I suggested we take the nearest exit and fill up the tank. Everybody and their brother had the same idea, and when I took Henry inside for a bathroom break, we had to stand in line for fifteen minutes. Lucky for us there was an alternate route right there that took us past the wreck and we were able to get home without really losing any time.


This week we finally had a few days where it wasn't raining every other day, so I hurried and bought some water sealer and a paintbrush and started on the deck. The first day I spent all morning and afternoon hunched over, standing, on my knees, or sitting, painting. I used lots of sunblock and wore a hat so I wouldn't get nuked by the sun. I was so smart that I forgot to put some on my ears. Ouch. The next day wasn't so bad because of blessed cloud cover, so I was able to get all the stairs and the tops of the railings done. Today it's raining. I guess I could use the break and get some laundry folded.

And... School is winding up for Henry. I can hardly believe today is his last day as a kindergartener. Seems like only yesterday he was hopping on that bus for the first time. Not that I'm crying. Tomorrow we get to sleep in.

Yeah!

Wedding Fun

This weekend we found ourselves traveling to Louisburg to attend the wedding of my step-cousin-in-law (Ben's stepmom's nephew). The wedding was at this old plantation house, which an impressed Henry addressed as "the rich house." There were green lawns and flowering magnolia trees and some kind of big bush with small fragrant flowers growing over an archway, and even though it was sunny and pretty hot, the humidity wasn't that bad, so it was a nice outdoor setting for a wedding. During the ceremony I was bitten on both ankles by a couple of ants, but other than that, I had a good time. Henry had a really good time. Especially after dinner when the dancing started. Or rather after the Bride and groom dance, the father and bride dance, the mother and groom dance, the grandpa and bride dance, and the groom and daughter dance were finished and the floor was opened to everybody. Henry loves to dance and since Ben and I are both pretty self-conscious about our own dancing, we both think it's cool that he's not afraid to go out and have fun. And he had lots of fun. I thought maybe he was having a little too much fun when right after he'd just finished some rudimentary breakdancing to a Michael Jackson song this older lady stopped him as he came prancing by her table on his way to ours. I thought she was going to get onto him or tell him to be more careful, but she actually wanted to compliment him on his dancing skills.

By the time the bride and groom cut the cake and we had all eaten a slice it was getting late, so we made our exit. The evening air had cooled sufficiently and we drove home with the windows open. While Henry snoozed in the back, Ben and I chatted. In moments of quiet as darkness set on I enjoyed the subtle woodsy scents of the countryside, the faint aroma of mushroom mingled with honeysuckle.

I don't know why some of my most peaceful happy moments happen to occur during the car ride home after family events. Weird, but it's true.