Clear As Day

I have been wanting a storm/screen door on the front door since we moved in and a screen door for the garage door.  For air in the summer and light in the winter. Plus they have deadbolts and offer an extra layer of security.

In Sycamore we had a storm door where you had to switch out the frame seasonally.  A full-sized screen for summer and a full-sized window for winter. It was a beautiful door but a pain in the butt to switch out and then store the unused frame.

In Camarillo, I wanted a storm door for the same reasons but we couldn't find storm doors in California.  We eventually found a 'screen' door that was heavier duty than a regular screen door. It was in fact a security door.  However, after installation, we realized that the 'screen' part was actually not a screen it was more of a metal grill, like a metal sheet with perforations. The door part was pretty, a treble clef pattern that swirled across in front of the screen. The door, unfortunately, let in neither light nor air because of that weird screen. I only bring this door up because Sean wanted to get one of those for the DeKalb house, but I had to kill that idea right off. No light and no air.

So after we looked and shopped around and made pro and con lists, (not really) we purchased two storm doors. One for the front and one for the garage. They are half and half. two glass panels. The upper one pulls down and as you pull it down and it drags down a roller screen. They are actually pretty cool. 

Sean spent the past two days installing the doors and they look amazing. So happy with them.

However, yesterday while I was out on the sidewalk admiring the new doors I realized something. I'm going to have to keep my front room much tidier. With that large open glass window right in the middle there, you can see all the way through to the back of the house. All the mess of books scattered everywhere and the dog hair accumulation on the floor and under the furniture and someone's clean laundry on the stairs waiting for some enterprising young person to actually carry it upstairs. 

So the moral of today's story is, be careful what you wish for you might get it.

Welcome to Monday's after school activities.

Shouts are coming from in front of the TV.

Cormac: 'KILL HIM!! Kill him! Kill him! Die dummy, die!'

Kai: 'No! I died! Avenge me! Hey! He's stealing my stuff, kill him!'

Cormac: 'What are you doing newb, you can't kill him with a stone ax! You need a diamond sword!'

But strangest of all...

Kai: 'Don't kill the chickens, I have to make 20 of them my friends...'

Just another game of Minecraft...

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Honestly, the words coming from upstairs, that Aidric doesn't think I can hear are worse.  Aidric plays an on-line, multi-player game, among many others, called 'Escape from Tarkov'. The rallying cries to encourage his teammates to further violence and pillaging are a bit chilling and sometimes I swear he's swearing in Russian.

Today I'm in his room making sure his laundry has been actually put away (not stuffed under something where I won't see it and believe he's done as I asked). It has. 

'Hey mom, come here.' He asks me to sit in his very comfy 'gaming chair'.  I do and he slips his headphones over my ears, 'I want you to meet my friend 'Atwood' ' (Not his real name, changed to protect his other 'not real name')

'Atwood, say Hi to my mom.'

''Hello?' I say into a slightly stunned silence.

'Hello ma'am.?' A deep young voice, I'd place him in the 18-20 year range.

'Hi, how's it going.'

'Great thank you...       

Thanks for letting your son play with us. He's a great asset on our team. You should know, he is a very polite and well-mannered kid, you should be very proud of him'

'O  K, thanks. Not something you'd expect to hear or think was important during a bloody shooting game...'

'No, but he is.  You should hear some of the other mouth breathers on here. No one ever bothered to teach them about manners and decency.'

'You'd think that sort of behavior would put you at a disadvantage... manners and decency I mean.'

'No, people notice and want to play with him. They know he's got their backs.'

'Good to hear, thank you...'

One of the strangest conversations I've ever had with a teenager.

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Carrington shouts 'Mimi, watch this!'

'RUM ROLL PLEASE!!'

Rhythmic slapping on the coffee table. Then suddenly, Squirtle the stuffed turtle goes flying into the air with here-to-fore unknown grace and agility. Flipping and cartwheeling through empty air for all he's worth, then landing softly and incredibly feet down on a couch pillow a few feet away!

THE   CROWD    GOES    WILD!

...  'I think you mean DRUM roll'

...serious drinking going on...

 

...late summer sunset...

 

Nobody better lay a finger on my Baby Ruth bar

I keep a very well-stocked pantry. I always have, this is not a new thing since Covid. I'm very anal about this (and many other things...) so I always make sure that there is at least one extra of everything, but usually 2 extra of everything.  All organized and on shelf risers so that everything is visible. Honestly, the only thing missing is an inventory list on a clipboard hanging from a hook on the wall, but nevermind. I said I was anal, not crazy.

In this pantry, on a low shelf, there are clear plastic bins with snack items for the children. Chewy Bars, Z-bars, fruit snacks, packages of mixed nuts, Pop-Tarts, Go-go squeezes in various flavors, fruit roll-ups, and popcorn. Often there are other items as snacking whims change. My children and grandchildren are very well acquainted with this area off the kitchen. My grandchildren hit it first thing in the door. They are always in there eating something and I try to keep up with their locust-like appetites.

But! There is another cupboard, a HIGH cupboard, a secret cupboard of grown-up snacks! In said secret cupboard there are Fig Newtons and chocolate-covered biscuits and some french butter cookies and bits of chocolate or chocolate bars, individually wrapped brownies or pastries. In other words, MY snacks. Mine, mine, all mine!!!

Well, someone did not get the memo! The other day I walk into the kitchen to see my son leaning back against a counter, staring at his phone, headphones in his ears, snack midway to his mouth. He was eating one of MY chocolate bars!

'Where did you get that!!' I practically scream at him. He turns and points at 'The SECRET cupboard'.

'Right there.' he says in puzzlement. 'Why?'

Why?! WHY?!

'No reasons'. I say as I try to think of a new SECRET cupboard. The cretins have gotten taller than me!!

Goodbye Facebook

It turns out that Blogger is still available to me and as much as I loved the 'social' aspect of social media, I really enjoyed sharing my nonsense stories.  

So find me here from time to time and I'll share with you the mundane and the ridiculous.  We'll see how this works, you can comment here I think to share news of a personal nature. I would love to hear your stories, of your life, too.

Saving Valentina.6.8.11.h264.mov

Heartbroken

On Thursday afternoon another parent and I were volunteering in our sons' first grade classroom. We were working on some Christmas gifts that the kids will give their parents. It was, typically, chaos in the room with kids at varying stages of their project all clamoring for help at the same time. A happy buzz of activity imbued the room. Then Mrs. Pack, the principle, came on the intercom and said "Rancho Rosal attention please, this is a Lock Down DRILL".

The noise stopped briefly and then started up again, but then Miss Myrick, our 1st grade teacher, stood up and began to close and lock doors and close all the blinds.  Half of the kids just kept working but the other half, including Aidric, looked like rabbits that had just smelled coyote on the breeze.  "What's happening" they asked with their eyes literally as wide as saucers.

Vanessa and I looked at each other and we kept working and just calmly explained that this was a 'drill', a practice, just like a fire drill or an earthquake drill.  Mrs. Pack just needs to be sure that Miss Myrick knows what to do in an emergency. "What kind of emergency?"

I looked at Vanessa again and said "Well, I don't know, just anything that might be dangerous.  Miss Myrick will call Mrs. Pack and let her know that she has all of her kids in her room and that all of her class is safely inside." The kids relaxed a bit and we all kept working and we tried to distract them with idle chatter and pointing out beads that had escaped and exclaiming over the beauty of each of their projects until finally Mrs. Pack called the all clear.  Doors and windows were re-opened and we worked on; the room eventually filling with that busy hum again.

Never ever in a million years would I, or Vanessa I'm sure, have said 'In case a bad man comes with a gun and tries to hurt you' or 'In case a bad person comes to hurt kids'.  Never could you make me say those words and see the look on those children's faces. The very thought of it hurts my heart.

And the very NEXT day, the unthinkable.  All I can picture is the worried look on Aidric's face. I can't imagine those children all the way across the country and the fear on their faces.  All I can think about is how kids that age, when they're hurt or scared, their only thought is 'I want my mommy' and there was just their teacher there to comfort them and what comfort could she have offered.

It breaks my heart every time I think about it and I can't breath. No longer can we say that sort of thing can't happen here.  Those kids were our kids they were everyones kids.  That kind of thing can happen ANYWHERE. What kind of sick, twisted world are we raising our kids in. We protect them from crossing streets in front of cars, from falling off of bikes, from taking too big a risk on bikes and skates and monkey bars.  But to have to protect them from evil itself while trying to shield them from the knowledge of what that evil is..... It's not how things should be, .....

I'm heartbroken and I can see no solution....

I'm writing this down so maybe it will stop running through my mind and maybe I can start to leave it behind, but I know I shouldn't forget.  I should fix it, but I don't know how....

...and don't, DO NOT anyone comment that we should turn to god and pray, do not comment on my page with that response because it's pure crap and I do not want to unleash upon you my views of that response, not today please....

Thanks for listening.

The rule is, jam tomorrow and jam yesterday - but never jam today. - Lewis Carroll

...another one of those random thoughts posts.....

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Ever see those 'Batesville Casket Company' trucks? Giant semi truck with the respectful yet eye catching logo and lettering.  Ever notice how on the highway nobody ever cuts them off, or even so much as passes those trucks. Today as I was headed out of town,  this guy in a truck practically ran a half dozen of us off the road trying to get to the head of the line of cars before the road narrowed, but when he got to the casket truck he just nipped right in behind. Coward!

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Watching those cold and flu commercials, do you ever get that head nodding reaction?  You know, 'yeah, your absolutely right, I should stock up', 'totally right, I don't want to wait until I have a cold and then go out feeling like crap to buy the drugs', 'When you're sick is not the time you want to be trying to figure out what to take for it'.

I've been sucked in, I'll admit it.  I run out and stock up on cold medicines so they're 'on hand'.  Yup, whole 'cold and flu season' goes by and I don't get sick at all.

NEXT cold and flu season the medicines have all expired and I'm out at the drug store feeling like crap trying to figure out what I need....

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Got a phone call the other day, caller ID showed a phone number whose area code identified it as just a random northern Illinois number. 'Hello'

'Hi mommy, I just needed to talk to you'. In one of those flash through your head millisecond thought processes I think.  Huh, the number didn't come up as Jessica's number, must be calling me from work, must be really important if she's calling me from work, hope the kids are ok....

'What is it baby'.........sudden dead silence on the phone, then an obviously young teenage boy voice asks 'Who is this'

Huh, it was somebody else's baby.....

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Talking to someone the other day about how inside I feel 20, but apparently have reached that age when my siblings and I need to start thinking about taking care of the parentals.  When I mentioned that to my sister she said only I had reached that age....

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In other news, I think that Aidric is getting close to being ready to consider thinking about removing the training wheels from his bike.  Sean has raised the wheels up so high that Aidric would have to be riding the bike on its side for the trainers to actually touch the ground, but the boy still refuses to have them removed.  He insists he still needs them.

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That is all.

If Carmen San Diego and Waldo ever got together, their offspring would probably just be completely invisible.

Looking for a small snacks...

...why is the good stuff always just out of reach...even for
a giraffe.

The primate family tree.

Calgon take me away!

A great view of Santa Barbara.

Aidric rocketing down the aunt hill.

Aidric and Stas' getting the hang of the hill.

Woo Hoo!!

Next I'll try it standing up!

Yipee!!

Watch out for that tree!

Aaaahhhh the tree!!!

Yea Ha!!

And now for the knock knock version of our program.

Comedy is exhausting.

That's all folks we're all out of jokes.

Now the singing and dancing portion...

Ahhh, time for the goody bags.

Cool a balloon....with a handle?....

A break to play with the matchbox cars.

These were Emerson's first matchbox cars ever!