Brains MIA, Echoing Poots, and Contentment

Yep. That would be me. I definitely missed the line for brains or the other possibility is that I got in line for a squirrel brain instead of the correct version which I'm sure should have been an XXL model. Stop laughing! It has been one of those days!

The whole day sort of started off like a B class comedy movie. As I was drying my hair, I realized that the texture of my hair was really weird. Then, it dawned on me. I never washed the conditioner out. Do over! Then, after getting both girls ready to go which was quite difficult after a week off, I piled everyone in the van and backed out. It would have been helpful if I'd opened the garage door first, though. Calm down! There was no damage done! The moment the back of the van made contact with the door, both girls went silent. Their eyes looked like boiled eggs! For some reason, I was able to laugh. Like I said, I know insanity is looming just around the corner when something like that just causes me to burst into a fit of giggles. I think I saw both girls check their seat belts to make sure that they'd be safe if my driving skills didn't improve before I cleared the end of the driveway.

School was a day full of tension. We start standardized testing tomorrow. Nothing drives a teacher's blood pressure up more than to realize that an entire year's worth of work is going to be judged on the basis of 50 questions. Oh well. I've done the best I can do.

After school, I had to stop and get some more double stick tape to finish off Grant's uniform. Yes, you heard me. Double stick tape. Are you judging? He had a couple of badges that would need to be upgraded after tonight's ceremony so I refused to permanently adhere them to his new shirt and decided that by slapping several layers of double stick tape onto the back of those badges, they'd stay put long enough to get him through the ceremony tonight. You'll be happy, happy, happy to know that they did stay on! (Plan B was duct tape)!

The ceremony was interesting at best. I guess the ceremony wasn't the problem at all. It was the guest list. Eric, his mom, and his brother were seated in a pew behind Annie, Dasha, and myself. That wasn't a big deal at all. Whatever. Enter Ethel and Fred. Poor Annie kept waving to my dad and he didn't do anything more than a three second drive by to make her want him more. He went on to take his seat with the scouts. Then mom came in and sat next to me but refused to speak or even breathe in the direction of Eric. She just sat down on the pew and held her purse on her lap like it contained her last breath. At one point, I started wondering if she had something in that purse that I needed to be worried about. Oh, heck. In my silly little mind, I was envisioning grabbing it and running with it and seeing if she'd chase me. What's wrong with me? Why would I have day dreams about stealing semi-elderly folk's purses? Once again, here's another sign as to my coming insanity certification. If I'm ok with the whole seating (and life) situation, why can't Ethel and Fred move on, too? Their attitudes are beginning to wear on me. Geez. Life is too short. Grow up (or I'll steal your purse).

Anyway, the ceremony was longer than usual and Annie started to get antsy. I had grabbed a coloring book and some colored pencils but she tired of that in about 15 nanoseconds. She preferred doing crocodile death rolls on my lap. At one point, she was sitting in the floor and using her fingers like little people and racing them back and forth across the hymnals. Whatever. She was being quiet. Then, she made that noise that all toddlers seem to find amusing. Except, she sounded like a 100 year old man who just ate four boxes of prunes. Ugh. She looked up at me and smiled that little angelic smile that means she knows that I'm about to snatch her up and she's making a final attempt at redemption. But, her look quickly changed to a look of horror and she said she needed to go potty. Of course she did. I started to toss her over the pew back to Eric and let him take her since she got that talent from him. Oh well. If you've ever been the keeper of a toddler before, you understand exactly what I'm talking about. However, she was even more pleased with her...um... "musical" skills once we were in the empty bathroom where everything echoed. I really thought that boys were the only creatures who behave like this. Wrong!

The ceremony ended and I headed home with the girls and then Grant was delivered a little while later. Tonight, I have all three chicken nuggets back home. It makes my heart happy. Like I've said all week, as much as I whine and complain about wanting time alone, I'm beginning to realize that I'll have a season for that later in life. Now, I'll be happy about having a house where each bed holds a warm (smelly) body that I can go in and snuggle. Happy, happy, happy.

A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. Proverbs 17:22

Good night, all