Mo Betta

Quinn is definitely on the mend. Today he ate half a cheeseburger and a medium-sized brownie batter blizzard and ran a borrowed DVD back to a neighbor. On the way home, I heard him calling, "Mom! Mom!"

I walked to the window, tore open the sash and asked what all the commotion was about. Quinn told me, "You won't believe it! Mrs. Other Neighbor's Butt is just as big as yours!"

I love my son and his extraordinarily perceptive visual skills.

102

That was Quinn's temperature this morning, but could also be the temperature outside today. Man is it hot! I called the pediatrician's office to request a different antibiotic (This one obviously was not working.), but had to take Quinn in to see him again. What's another $41 in copays and 2 hours of my time when it's summertime?

Poor Rachel is playing three games in a basketball tournament this afternoon in gyms that are less-than air-conditioned. I predict a long evening of watching TV.

Stay cool, everyone!

100.8

Quinn complained of being hot and tired this morning. He took his temperature with the digital thermometer and it read 100.8. I thought it would probably read that hot on anyone today because it's so hot outside. I had just come in from a long walk and decided to check the calibration myself, so popped the thermometer in my mouth. It read 98.4 despite the fact that I was glistening with perspiration (Ladies don't sweat.).

Bad news. He has strep. The pediatrician loves it when I bring in my son and say, "He's been running a fever for about 2 hours now and is complaining of general malaise. I think he has strep. I know you wouldn't guess that based on the fact that he is spinning on your doctor stool and singing, but you'll have to trust me. This really is a significant decrease in energy."

A Great Gift

Quinn was so excited when I picked him up from the pool this afternoon. He told me how he was able to purchase $4.75 worth of snacks from the vending machines, including helping out a friend and some "kid who needed a quarter."

"Where did you get all that money?" I asked.

"Remember all those quarters Grandma gave me for Christmas a couple years ago? That's where."

I think he means all the state quarters that my mom had been collecting all year and had placed on a map of the USA. Oh, man.

Fast Food

Rachel called me while eating beer-battered onion rings from Hardee's. (She and Mike are on their way home from his father's Memorial Pig Show.) While chewing, Rachel asked me if she would get drunk from eating these onion rings. I told her no, of course not. She said, "Oh! So only Dad will get in trouble if the cops pull him over."

She was thinking he could receive a citation for illegal transportation!

Finally

I'd finally decided that I was going to be calm and enjoy the time while Rachel was at her grandparents' and Quinn was at camp. I'd finally decided to enjoy the quiet. Then Mike and I pulled up to the camp yesterday evening and Quinn came running toward the car in tears. My first thought was that he had been injured, so it took me a minute to understand these words through his sobs as his face pressed against my chest, "Mom! Dad! I missed you so much! I love you! I don't want to be away this long ever again!"

Oh! He really missed us.

Well . . . he's back to normal today.

Distractions

Sunday evening I fought with Rachel all the way home from camp. Monday I had at least three auditory hallucinations that Quinn was calling my name. I cried instead of eating dinner. Tuesday I drank two beers - two! Today's shaping up to be one of intense teenage negotiations about the purchase of a pair of Nike Shocks. I think I understand how chemical dependency begins.

Camp

Rachel and I dropped off Quinn at church camp this afternoon. He was humiliated that I had packed him a purple towel. I was more concerned that he had chosen the bunk over the dorm building's drain. I wonder if he will be bothered by rats? I didn't speak of it lest he have dreams about his recently departed gerbil.

As I dawdled over my departure, Rachel texted me to say that bugs were getting in the car where she had belted herself in ten minutes ago. Before I could give another reminder about sunscreen, bug spray, asthma inhaler or warning about limiting his caffeine intake, Quinn said, "Well, bye, Mom! I love you! See you on Friday!" then headed to the pool.

Giant Chinese Silver Grass

Did I mention that we put in some new landscaping? And that it will grow to 10-14 feet high? It should serve as an effective hedge in a couple years.

Rodent News

We've been rabbit-sitting for our friends.
Bad news - we had to bury a rodent this morning.
Bad news - it was Quinn's gerbil Nester.
In Nester's eulogy, Quinn mentioned that Nester had been a good gerbil and he was sorry for the times he might have forgotten to feed him, but that he would always remember the good times and he hoped that he would see him again someday in heaven.
RIP Nester. Quinn says he feels lonely already.

Hacksaw Hijinx

One pesky low branch interferes with our walk around the neighborhood sidewalk. One poorly-coordinated attempt to remove said branch involved an old, dull hacksaw and one distracted look-out. Unfortunately, the branch is still attached, though it now hangs slightly lower. To my knowledge, there was no police involvement.

Just Finished Reading

Quick read. Typical happy ending. Must try something else to distract myself from thoughts of fake vampires
(Still. I know.)

Birthday Musings

Today I am three times older than my daughter. When she is twenty-five, I will be twice as old as she is. I like brownies. How old am I?

Not enough information? Reminds me a bit of my senior math class - minus the brownies.

Can anyone offer an equation to solve?

Rabbits v Humans

Lily, Quinn's 4H rabbit, bit him this morning. He called his father to complain and was informed that in order to improve Lily's disposition, she needs to be bred. I watched the wheels start spinning as Quinn bemoaned his over-demanding mother and her (gasp!) summer chore charts. Quinn then asked me if human women are mean and irritable when they need bred too.

I wonder what life is like in homes where fathers do not have a college degree in reproductive physiology?

Vocabulary Enhancement

My son occasionally suffers from LowV (my term for limited vocabulary), though admittedly, this mistake was one more of connotation than semantics. On Friday, while visiting with a new friend, I heard him give her the following compliment, "I like your buck teeth."

Later, I explained to him that it would be more polite to say, "I like your smile." This could serve him well in the future.

Memory Train

Today marks the 19th anniversary of the Disney World vacation that inspired this memory from my father:

"Four lovely daughters and one lovely wife all experiencing the menstral thingy during our stay at Disney. Poor dad listening to the four lovely daughters scream into the lens of the camera "we hate it here and we want to go home". Rooming with five women during the Disney thing would make any man drool with envy. If they only knew. I was exposed to enough estrogen during that little junket to kill a lesser man. My voice may have gone two octaves higher but I survived the experience. . . . God has a way of watching over the helpless."

Coming Soon!

I'm looking forward to the next Harry Potter film due out July 17th. Here is a quote for you today, spoken by Albus Dumbledore:


"It is important to fight, and fight again, and keep fighting, for only then can evil be kept at bay, though never quite eradicated."

So Said PaPa Wayne

My dad told us about the end of a long day (for a grade school teacher of his!), when his teacher asked, "Who are you going to bring with you to school tomorrow - the good Wayne? or the bad Wayne?"

According to PaPa Wayne, he answered, "I don't know yet."

Could you imagine a school teacher in 2009 having the nerve to qualify a student's behavior in terms of "right" and "wrong?!"

New Bicycle

Friend or foe, you will enjoy this book. A friend of mine found it in the dollar bin at the book store.

Last Day of School

Finally! The funniest part of the day was the syntactic error in the limerick written for the retirees. Following the yummy luncheon, a power point presentation was given and someone read, " . . . we thank you all we can for all the programs you have ran . . ." I can't even remember anything else about it at all. I was concentrating on not laughing. I'm sure it was sincere and touching, but I couldn't get past the irony of the entire situation. Thankfully, I had stepped to the back of the group to take a phone call (Quinn was calling to tell me he had a nosebleed.). Maybe our new Secy of Education will work on improving national standards in education - after he launches the new curriculum for the Kindergarteners.