The end of time, energy after sickness, and base stealing...in no particular order

So it seems I have caught the little bug that kept Dracen out of school one day last week. The one that came back on Saturday afternoon and had him sounding like he was coughing up both lungs. Luckily, after a 13 hour sleeping marathon Saturday night, he was feeling much better. Me? Not so much. I sound a bit like I've been chain smoking for the past twenty years.

But I have definitely had worse and am not expecting myself to check out any time in the immediate future although (unless I saw it incorrectly) when I glanced over at the town's digital sign while on our way to the high school this morning I read that time will be ending for all of us here soon and very soon.

Because I am quite certain it read, "Time Ends 11/3/2013".

By the time Devin looked over it had changed to something else. Hmm...good thing I am not the superstitious sort. I'm guessing that maybe it had scrolled out "Daylight Savings" before that but all I got was the part about the end of time. Listen. I'm no digital sign expert or anything but surely we could get all those words to fit on there at once. It's a fairly big sign and there are certain folk who can get sort of crazy over mention of such things as the end of time as we know it. 

I  once worked with one of them.

He actually told me, when I was expecting Devin (this was 1999 and the whole Y2K madness was looming) that he felt sorry for me because I was about to have a baby right there at the beginning of the Apocalypse.  He was certifiable, that one. I could write an entire series of posts on him. 

But right now I want to talk more about the adventures of that youngest boy, Dracen...

Before his baseball game last night he was practically bouncing off.the.walls. He claimed it was because he had been sick and he always gets this way after he's been sick which was why he got called down for talking in science class (he always tells me when he gets reprimanded at school, most unlike his brother) but as he so manically explained, he just couldn't help it! He just couldn't help it! I think it had more to do with the weekend sleeping marathon than anything else but whatever the reason, the boy was running on a full tank.

Which is why I suspected he was going to pull something crazy at his game.

And I was right. 

He got walked his first bat but his second time to the plate, knocked the bajeebies out of the ball (like I have never seen him do), soaring it way out into the outfield and then took off running the bases like a bat out of h-e double l. The outfielders got the ball in as he was rounding second but did he care or even notice? Nope. Kept on booking it to third.

Apparently though, it was Forrest Gump's lucky day because the next thing I heard (over my own "NOOOO") was, "Heee's....SAFE!" 

Then on his next bat he hit it way up into the air and it came down right  into the first baseman's glove. Only he dropped it. Forrest was safe again. I don't think he's come down yet. And he claims this energy comes from getting over a sickness? Maybe I'll get a little touch of that once my smoker's cough passes.

Here's to hoping,

It's All Good

Last week I finally did something I've been saying I'm going to do for years. I took my very first piano lesson from my longtime friend, Dana, who just so happens to be a piano and guitar teacher. I have not attempted to play an instrument since my band days (I played clarinet 6th thru 12th grades) which was just about too many years ago to count. 

She assured me I was doing good and I was sure she was lying through her teeth because I seriously felt like an old dog trying to learn a brand new trick. It was downright painful. But I came home and practiced. And practiced. And practiced some more. (the boys were thrilled...muahaha). I can now play Row Row Row Your Boat and all the other songs in the kiddie book she had on hand. 

My favorite though has to be The Donkey Song...Hee-haw, Hee-haw, Hee-haw, Hee-haw. I have been thoroughly entertaining myself with that one. The most rewarding time to play it is just after both boys get home from school and turn on the t.v. Paybacks are oh so very sweet. 


I was not able to get my second lesson this Wednesday, however, because Dray had a sick day. He went back to school yesterday but had nearly lost his voice when he got in the car yesterday afternoon. Gruffly, he explained how he had kinda started feeling bad earlier in the day but wanted to stay because he didn't want to miss p.e. Well, that makes perfect sense (Not). The boy (obviously) likes him some p.e.  

And some iPhone. 

We had made a deal with both boys at the beginning of last school year (it was mainly an attempt to motivate Devin) that we would break down and get them iPhones if they made really good grades all year long. Well Dracen did. And he did not let us forget that deal. He got his phone over the summer which has actually worked out well for all of us because if he doesn't do right? He loses his phone until he does. 

Charlie gave it back to him at the beginning of this week, after he had lost it for a few days. He was told that if he did not cooperate in the mornings he would lose it for a minimum of one week each time. And do you know he has been setting his alarm, getting up before anyone else in the house and taking a shower on.his.own? All week?!  Hallejuah, Amen. My prayers have been answered because let me tell you, that boy WAS A STRAIGHT UP TYRANT IN THE MORNINGS. 


Seriously. 

And since I'm anything but a morning person, love and love alone is the only thing that saved him. 

That same love had me sleeping on an old flatter-than-a-fritter-pillow I dug out of the closet at bedtime last night. I went to get into bed only to notice that my special pillow was nowhere to be found. The first thought that came to my mind was of course, Dracen. I popped my head in his room to find him sound asleep on his own pillow though and after a quick search around his room, nothing. 

So I began whining and frantically searching the house for my pillow. Charlie checked upstairs in the bonus room because he automatically assumed as well that this had D-r-a-c-e-n written all up over it but came back down empty-handed. A couple of seconds later, after opening Dracen's door again, he came back in the bedroom and said, "He's hugging it." 

I went to see for myself and sure enough, there was my little sleeping angel hugged up with my special pillow underneath his covers. So I did what any good mother would do...opened up the linen closet, dug out an old ratty pillow, put a pillow case on it and carried it on to bed. And Charlie just stood there smiling as he said, "I knew there was no way you were taking that pillow".

He knows me well.


Happy Friday, Y'all!

I leave you with a few of my favorite links and whatnot from around the web this week...

"You're a stay-at-home mom? What do you DO all day?"  LOVED this. The best part is, it was written my a man (Matt Walsh).

21 Really Annoying Facebook Friends We All Have. I laughed so hard.

Wonder Woman Walking a Dachshund print. Etsy This is just all sorts of awesomeness. The only thing that would make it better for me is if the Dachshund had long hair.

And this... Well this just cracked me up. 

via "You're killin me Smalls!" facebook page

this canvas art print...etsy. A-men.

This perfect fall nail polish I bought last week....Chinchilly by Essie.

Romans 8:28:  And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 

In other words...

via Good Vibe Blog

Brother 1 and Brother 2

Last night at Dracen's game (he's playing fall baseball) he got a base hit and was on first already thinking of stealing second when Charlie overheard the first base coach telling him to wait for his instruction. After he had already taken off and stolen second, the coach then turned to a spectator on the other side of the fence and said, "You gotta watch that one."  Charlie was laughing when he told me what he'd just heard because you have no idea, brother... no i-dea! 

Before we left for the game he came out of his room in his Orioles uniform (black with orange accents) and clomped into the living room with his cleats on, knowing full well he is not supposed to have the cleats on in the house. When Charlie reminded him, what did he do? Jumped up on the door frame, one cleat-ed foot on each side of it. As if that was somehow better than having the cleats on the floor.

He then went outside for all of 30 seconds before bursting back through the door shouting, "THIS IS SALMON! THIS IS SALMON!" And no, not the fish. The color. He was referring to the spandex-ish long-sleeved shirt I'd found at Old Navy last week for him to wear underneath his uniform on chilly nights. And it was.so.not.salmon. It was the exact color orange that's in his shirt, belt and socks though he swore to me it looked salmon outside in the sunlight. 

"So take it off then!", I shouted back. And that he did. 

Sweet mercy, that child of mine  is "spirited". 

But although that spirit wears me slap out on most any given day, I love that he is the way he is.  Unlike his brother and me, you rarely have to wonder what is going on in that head of his because he will not hesitate to fill you right in on whatever happens to be eating at him. 

Devin, though he is not quite the extreme introvert as I, is mostly just the opposite. 

Normally when I pick him up at school, he has very little (if anything at all) to say before popping in his earbuds. But today he had something he deemed important enough to get off his chest... "I'm not going to be able to get my license until way late!" 

"Come again?", I replied. 

He went on with his attempt to explain how he is not allowed to take drivers ed until he's 14 and a half and so he can't get his permit until....and yeah, so...wait...no, yeah, it'll be like halfway through junior year before he can get his license what with that July birthday and all. 

(The nerve of me to give him a summer birthday. Gah!) 

I was so completely lost and not understanding a word he was throwing at me. While I think he's confused, I must confess that, if he isn't, delaying this whole parent-of-a-teenage-boy-driving thing does not sound like an entirely bad deal to me. 

I'm just saying,