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Archive for August, 2013

Tea Lake…we finally made it!

Posted in Musings and Epiphanies, tagged , , , on August 31, 2013| Leave a Comment »

We have been trying since Memorial Day to make it to Tea Lake.  It’s only about 15 miles from our house, so it’s not the distance.  Almost every half-day Friday had lousy weather.  The ones that had decent weather were when the boys were at camp.  It just never happened.  Today we made it.  And we even visited Mighty Joe.  Welcome to the Pine Barrens.IMG_7352

The boys had the lake all to themselves for the first hour we were there.   This really blew my mind.  I truly anticipated more people, but we really enjoyed ourselves.  I even took off my shoes.  And those of you who know me know that I hate sand.

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Then younger son got wonderful revenge against older son.  At least temporarily.

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Hee hee.  He had fun.  Older son had fun breaking out of it.  Sand castles, swimming in the lake, and goofing off with Mom filled the morning.  We had a wonderful time at Tea Lake.  Until next year…

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Mohawks

Posted in Musings and Epiphanies, tagged , , on August 31, 2013| Leave a Comment »

The boys both got mohawks.  Check them out.

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And you get a little preview of the new wall color…mango!

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Hives, hives, I tell you!

Posted in Musings and Epiphanies, tagged , , on August 23, 2013| Leave a Comment »

I’ve never had hives due to stress in my life until this week.  I actually thought it was ringworm, which sounds grosser than it is.  I had done some gardening so I figured it was from that, but the treatment didn’t work.  It wasn’t until I had been home for about an hour after work tonight that they red splotches began to retreat.  It was quite the week at work.   Let me explain.  No, there’s too much, let me sum up.  The week is over.  Yea!  Joy!  Rapture!

And yet this evening I looked forward to spending time working on my syllabus.  I’ve avoided it for so long simply because I’ve been too tired to really jump into it and savor the excitement.  Now that I have fed the boys, played a game of Stratego with Older Son and two games of Candy Land with Younger Son, and tucked them in, I am diving into the Brothers’ Grimm and assignments for the class.

I can hear Younger Son slowly creeping down the hall, even though I told him not to leave his room.  He’s adorable.  The best part of this week was still managing to make or find time to spend with my family.  Even if it was only for fifteen minutes, or an extra cuddle in the morning, or the wonderful games tonight, I kept the most important part of my life important even during this hectic, long hours, home late, kind of week.

And now the hives are disappearing.  I do hope they do not think they are welcome every time I am stressed.

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Life Moves Pretty Fast

Posted in Musings and Epiphanies, tagged , , on August 14, 2013| 1 Comment »

so I’m stopping to look around.  Where is the year going?  It’s August.  Younger son is now eight years old.  Older son turns ten in a couple of weeks.  There are commercials worrying about gluten in pet food…really?  I get that gluten may be an issue for humans, but every dog I’ve ever owned has thought that cat poop was candy and I need to worry about gluten in the kibble?

The summer is definitely over at work.  Regular hours are back and the students will be back for the fall semester in about two weeks.  I really need to finish my syllabus.  This year’s theme for my class is Grimm’s Fairy Tales.  It’s going to be fun-if not for the students, at least for me.   These tales are not for the weak at heart.  Sex, violence, incest, anti-Semitism, and lots of gore.  As I’ve been exploring the influence the tales have had on our culture, I’ve become even more fascinated.  Please understand, since you may not actually know me, I am not an anti-Semite.  I did not know about that aspect of the fairy tales until I started my humble research for the class.  I had noticed clips of Hitler and the Nazis in Grimm, the television show, but I did not realize the significance of making them wesen.  Now I do.  I am sure the students will get uncomfortable when we enter the section of the course that looks at this aspect of these German tales, but I’m sure they will also be uncomfortable when they read about how in several of the stories the father, after being widowed, figured it would just be easier to marry his daughter.  And the original title of the book was Nursery and Household Tales…really?

Meanwhile, back in the day-to-day reality, I’m painting the living room and dining room mango.  It’s gorgeous!  It’s not done!  Doesn’t matter-I’m actually enjoying the process and decluttering as I go along.  I took pre-pictures and will take post-pictures and share them eventually.

I’m so dreadfully behind posting pictures from the summer.  But what’s new?  I did put up some new pictures on the wall though, as part of the whole painting process.  That’s right.  I’ve finally framed the boys’ kindergarten pictures and added them to wall.  Keep it down, I know they’re going into fifth and third grade.  I’m pacing myself, Sergeant.

The boys have been fish this summer and can’t get enough of pools.  They both had a blast at camp.  VBS went well too.  The years keep passing and life is good.  I just have to remind myself to stop and look around so I don’t miss it.  Have you stopped and looked around lately?

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