Into the future

Deacon explained to us that his teacher could read palms and that she looked at his lifeline and told him he would live to be 90 years old. We asked him how much longer he would be alive and he did the math and exclaimed, "80 years!" The look of exhilaration left his face and I thought for a moment that maybe he was focusing on death. I braced myself for a tough question and then he sighed, "and I thought this week was long."

Yes, my son. It seems that way today and then one day you wonder where the time went.

Lotion = Doggie Ketchup

So last night I am doing my bedtime routine: brush the teeth, eye cream, lotion on legs, feet and hands. Callie loves to lick the lotion off of me so to make sure that Callie doesn't ingest any of this, I wear my yoga pants, long sleeve shirt and socks on both my feet and my hands. Yes, I know, I am quiet the vision before going to bed, but Tom is out of town and I all I want to do is to close my eyes for 8-9 hours. I have tucked everyone in, put the dogs on the bed, climbed in and snuggled down under my warm comforter. Callie curls up at the foot of the bed and Maya slinks under the covers and snuggles up next to my stomach. I can't be sure, but I think I remember my head hitting the pillow before I fell asleep. And off to dream world....

I was in the most beautiful meadow. The sunlight was so bright that I could barely stand to look out into the distance, but when I looked down, the field was filled with color. All different kinds of flowers in small patches separated by tall bunches of a feathery kind of grass scattered as far as the eye could see. There was a gentle breeze that kept the immense light from being hot. As wandered over the hill taking in all the different kinds of flowers, I could hear what seemed to be water. The sound of water gently lapping over rocks and I went searching for the source of this noise. I noticed on the side of the hill there was an area where the grass was taller than the rest. I ran towards it and found little pink flowers growing along a small brook. I glanced down and noticed that I was standing on a patch of flowers and that my weigh had caused the ground to puddle up. As I stood there, my feet and ankles started to hurt, to stink, like they were being pricked or bit.......... CALLIE!

My eyes opened and I tried to become aware of my surroundings before I moved. I could her licking. Callie had burrowed under the sheets and her furry body was laying along the length of my calf and she had her paws on either side of my foot. She had somehow managed to work my sock almost completely off and was dragging her soft wet tongue over the top of my foot. Occasionally she would tilt her head to the side and give my foot a slight brush with her teeth. Not exactly gnawing, but similar.

I have no idea how long I had been asleep, but her work had cause the sheets around my feet to become wet. I threw back the covers. Callie's body stiffened at the sudden exposure and her tongue stopped mid stroke and just stayed there like it was glued to my foot. Maya jumped to life and ran to the other side of the bed. Callie didn't budge. Didn't remove her tongue like I wasn't going to notice.

"CALLIE," I yelled and she sat up and looked back at me over her shoulder as if to say, "Oh, you. What do you want?" "What are you doing?" I fumed. Callie turned, laid her ears back and wagged her tail and took a shy step towards me. Furious I got out of bed and went to the pantry. I rummaged around for a few minutes until I found the golden elixir. I took the socks off my hands and sprayed the Bitter Yuck everywhere I had previously applied lotion. I marched straight back to bed, cussed at the dog, turned off the lights and went back to sleep.

Now, I must mention here that I do not wake up well. Things that may appear to make complete sense to me after a cup of coffee completely elude me before said coffee. I never read the warning label to see if Bitter Yuck would have any adverse reaction with my skin. Cause redness or swelling, turn my skin green, etc. At this rate I could have just been adding caviar to the already alluring taste of lotion. But I did manage to sleep undisturbed for the rest of the night. Maybe the Bitter Yuck was just a numbing agent and Callie complete chewed my foot off in the middle of the night.

When I did wake up in the morning, I blindly made my way to the coffee maker. Made my daily blessing to the bringer of life whose aroma helped to guide me through the land mine of dog bones and kids' toys. As I took my first few sips and could feel my blood starting to move, I remembered the events of the night. Why had it not occurred to me to just put the dog in the kennel? Why didn't I just give her a bone?

Did I dare look to see what I had done to myself? Nope. I put the coffee down and picked up the Bitter Yuck to read the warning label. "No staining formula. Non-toxic." Right there on the front of the label. I almost sighed with relief as I rotated the bottle to check the warning label. "Do not spray directly on eyes or nose."

So, I should be in the clear, right? I slowly lifted up my yoga pants to expose my ankles. Nothing. Just a few red lines from Callie's teeth. I had survived.

Astronomical Wines Event

Just some laid back fun!

The Pink Palace Museum threw a little fundraiser last night. Alcohol and a planetarium show are a great combination! The food was good, the wine was perfect. Robin and Greg loved the vodka teas.

My dear friends and, of course, my good looking man there!

Middle school is a total loss. Burn it down. Start over.

I just have one question? Is there anyone in the county school system who has spent a single day in a REAL business meeting?

We had middle school orientation the other night, and I am pretty convinced now that it is the blind leading the blind there.

FIRST, orientation was two weeks after the first day of school. Maybe they don't understand what orientation is? Maybe they don't know the definition of the word? Either way... strike one.

So we get up there are they are doing a ppt presentation about the process and procedures for interacting with the school. The woman talking couldn't project her voice out of her own shadow, so I sat there a listened to her mumble for 15 minutes.

Then, this almost made me yell at her, she "dismissed" us so we could go to the classrooms. How old do you think I am?

I am here for you to impress me. What are your test results? What is the racial make up of the school? What is the teacher ratios and book fund look like?

Instead she wanted to make sure that we got the grading folders back on Thursdays! Some of the parents had questions, which she couldn't answer, so we waited until someone could go fetch another teacher that could. Way to impress!

So we are DISMISSED and we walk all the way down to the classrooms and they are locked. Go figure! They didn't want us there to begin with! The teacher tells us to meet with the other teachers while she goes and gets the key so Tom I just walked out of the school.

They want parents to volunteer to help out at the school. Tell you want, I will volunteer, but only if I can run the entire orientation program next year.

So the ambulance just left and I am fully consciousness again and the first thing I do? Get on my blog and record this dear diary moment.

I just got THE bomb dropped on me. My little princess, in all of her innocence just informed me that she is giving me permission for Tom and I to get married so we can make her a baby brother.

Upon questioning her, it seems that she just wants another brother and doesn't really want Tom and I to get married. She is just smart enough to realize one is not happening without the other. Whew! At least we got that lesson!!

But the plot thickens....

Prince is also ALL ABOUT having a baby brother! Counting the dogs, Callie and Maya, testosterone is in short supply in our house. Seems the lizards, Spike and Thadius don't factor into this equation.

So let's review, two for baby brother, two so totally freaked out we don't know where to submit the NO ballot.

Feeling at little put on the spot, Tom and I try to explain that we are investing all our time, energy and love into just them. That they are our focus. The kids were crushed, so to pep them up, I maybe let it slip that my friend, Bonney, is pregnant. I might have also promised to babysit the new bundle of joy when it is born in May 2010 so we could play with a real baby.

Anyone else have babies to offer up for some free babysitting? Please!

Get excited, grandma.

We have REAL pictures of the kids!

One of my dearest friends has decided to become a professional photographer. She just got a brand new mega awesome camera and asked me if she could borrow my kids for a shoot. Um... Hell to the ya.

These are just a couple of the amazing photos we got.

She just looks like a princess!

Talk about capturing his essence. This is just SO him.

I just love this one. I can just see him in another 15 years dressing like this. It just makes me want to cry!

So now, grandma, auntie, grandpa.... order away! Go to http://www.jenhowellphotography.blogspot.com/. She is just building this site, so bear with her as she tweaks it and continues to add photos. Your patience will pay off with some breath-taking photos. And for my jealous friends... I will share my secret photo friend. Email her at jhowellphoto@gmail.com.

Silence is better.

For those of you who have seen my post, Sharing the pain, you are pretty up to speed on the saga between X and the children. I scanned and emailed the princess's heart felt message and emailed it to X since he has moved and left no forwarding address, phone number or other way to contact him.

This is the response I received a week later.

Well quiet frankly I am just overwhelmed with your sense of responsibility and deep longing for your child.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME? You couldn't be bothered to write more than a one sentence response to your daughter, who is clearly torn up missing you?

You think I am your god damn operator and you can put breaking her heart off on me? You need to pick up the phone and call her yourself.

In fact, why did you bother to respond at all? Idiot.