We are in town this weekend, due to my son's busy social schedule. He had a birthday party from 11-12:30. Birthday parties are a big part of my business, so I'm hyper-aware of how my competitors do theirs.

I kick this place's ass.

First, the address on the website is wrong, and if you put it in your GPS, it will take you to a place that has not much to do with where you are. Then I called the place and said "huh?" and the girl who answered said "yeah, i'm not sure how you get here." WHAT? OH MY GOD. There was a firefighter fundraiser (a bar-b-q at the Piggly-Wiggly. Welcome to Alabama! Even if it *was* Mountain Brook) and they showed me the way. AND they gave H a plastic fireman's hat. Awesome.

Get to the place late, which I knew would be a problem because H wouldn't have tme to transition, and he didn't. Everyone was lining up and following directions, and he was still in run-around-like-a-loon mode. Then by the time he was ready to do X, the group was ready to move to Y. So he missed out on X and pitched a mini fit. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Note, he only does this way with me. If my husband had been there it would have been no problem.

They had the kids (3 and 4 year olds) sitting and waiting to do a bunch of things one at a time. Yeah, that doesn't work so well. And there were big kids who were getting annoyed with the little ones who weren't wanting to sit still. You can't ask kids to run and jump for a while, then to sit, and then to jump one at a time. It just doesn't work. A body in motion wants to stay in motion, and all that.

And then this thing happened at work. Trivial, but annoying. Something is going to be a problem, but wouldn't have been if one phone call was made to me when they realized what was wrong. Instead, they waited and now it's too late. JUST CALL ME.

My husband has a cold, and when he is sick he is the sickest person who has ever been. I can have no idea what fresh hell he is suffering. When I am sick?  I just need to get up and get moving to feel better, according to him.

I think that I need a nap.

Henry had his dental surgery done today, and has come through with flying colors. He had 8 crowns and a handful of fillings, plus he had some teeth filed/sanded/something. We will go to the dentist in a few weeks to get some other work done. Poor kiddo. He's in for a lifetime of dental suckatude, and it is all inherited.

He loved being at the hospital, though. He wanted to stay and help the nurse. The anesthesiologist said he was awesome. Basically, he charmed the socks off of everyone. Good thing, because he's started playing on the monkey bars and I figure it wasn't our last trip to Children's.

H is supposed to have some major, massive dental work tomorrow (my poor kid? born WITHOUT TOOTH ENAMEL. Yeah.). This involved going to Children's Hospital to have him put under general because otherwise he would be so traumatised by the experience of having 8 crowns (yes) plus fillings in EVERY other tooth.

No joke.

It has taken us almost 6 months to get this all organized - between the dentist's schedule and Blue Cross sucking. His teeth have gotten so bad in the meantime. But, finally, we're going to get it taken care of, right?

Except last night H started feeling sick. Running a fever of 102. Croup-y cough. And throwing up all night long.

So now I have to call the dentist and see what's what. I imagine it will be put off, since Children's won't want to put a kid under who is coughing and/or has a fever.

DAMMIT. Who the hell knows how long it will take to get this worked out again. Meanwhile, Cavities McGee over there just looks pitiful. I'm so sorry, my sweet baby.

We had such a great time.

( Pictures! )We had so much fun. And it speaks to my SF addiction that I heard about Farrah and MJ on the way down and it was KILLING me that I had no internet access while I was down there.

We leave tomorrow for four days in Mobile. H and I will drive on to the beach for at least one day, and spend some time hanging out around the hotel pool.

I am glad for a break from Bham. We'll all have fun. H keeps adding things to the pile of stuff he needs to pack. He needs four firetrucks. And a giant plastic grasshopper. Because of course.

I am also glad to get a break from my sulking, brooding stepson. That's a story for another day. Provided I don't kill him because he's wearing me out.

I've made it to three days of Boot Camp. One more tomorrow before we go. I'm not in as much pain as I have been in. Yay?

I've made it two days in a row to boot camp. I'm doing okay. I am sore as hell, and I can't do all of the stuff that everyone else does, but I keep going and I'm trying to not feel so much like the fat kid in P.E.

I am determined to do this, however. I can't run, but I can walk, so I just keep walking around the lap while everyone else is running. I can't finish as many reps as some, but I'm doing them right and I'm not stopping. I can't jump rope because I'm uncoordinated, but I can swing the rope in my hand and jump up and down.

 

And I can get up each morning and do this. I can't out-run them, but I can out-last anyone.

Here's what I've been doing for 8 weeks....
 

( progress report behind the cut )

We are having a perfect official first day of summer.

It took two trips to Wal-Mart, but we have an inflatable wading pool, inflated and filled with toys and water. And a slide. We also have new bubbles and several bubble wands. AND we have a snow-cone maker. And sunscreen.

Four hours in the pool and I'm ready for a nap. Not sure about Henry, but he didn't argue too much about changing. We'll be back in after nap.

I love summer.

We're up at the lake for the weekend. We rushed out the door at rush hour and raced to beat the storm.... we got here 15 minutes before it started to huff and puff and blew the electricity out. It was 23 hours and 55 minutes later that we got the power back on. So, yay Alabama Power! And I mean that, because they had to get an entire crew and go up in the woods and there was a bulldozer involved. We were all ready to hear "yeah, sometime next week we'll think about maybe doing all that".

Of course, we had people to entertain. The kiddos played Cariboo, which is a Cranium game. HIGHLY recommend. The three year old liked it, the six year old liked it, and the 10 year old was only mildly a brat with the two younger ones not wanting to follow all the rules.

Fortunately, the rain kept it cool, so no air conditioner was tolerable. Then today when it finally stopped raining and got nice, we were outside and in the water. H swam from 2 p.m. until we dragged him out of the water at 6:35. He fell asleep while I was reading him his bedtime story. Up late last night, no nap... exhausted little boy. The television was never even turned on. I love that.

This morning, my mom and I "brewed" coffee by using a Melita cone on top of a thermos, with water we were heating on the grill. Bottled water for coffee is such a waste, but no electricity means no pump means no well water.* And coffee is a good thing for all involved. We made enough for all the neighbors, so that was nice. We were supposed to be having a party today so we had coolers of ice, and we managed to keep the food cool in the refrigerators. Not as many people came to the party as we expected, but there were still brave souls. Everything was cooked on the grill, we survived.

(*it also means that to flush a toilet you had to haul a bucket of water from the lake and fill that tank. Up about 40 steps. Water is heavy. )

I hear that it was pretty bad back in the 'ham. Trees down in my neighborhood, but none on my house or the other car. The yard is pretty full with limbs and other storm-stuff, but nothing too bad. We'll see if the tomato farm survived.

Now my mom is going around cleaning up and doing all her things that she has to do. She makes me insane, but what relaxes her is a totally clean and picked up cabin, and what relaxes me is not wiping up condensation rings every time someone picks up a glass. She has asked me the same question over and over again, and if she offers me a cup of soup or a half of her sandwich again, I'm going to revert to my 14-year-old self and scream and go in my room and slam the door.

We enjoy each other's company, really we do, but we do things differently and sometimes I have to go find a computer to hide with. Glad the power is back on, and the internet working, so I can.