Survival Training and Walmart

   I just looked at the calendar, and I am a whole week behind schedule. I have 482* unanswered emails from one week ago! It's like time stopped!

   So, bear with me while I think through the last week, and the 682** things that have happened.

So, Thursday was the Survival Suit Training Class, required for Federal Permit holders. What a riot! The guys all said it was a great class, they learned a lot, and I think every one of them said they'd never actually been in their suits before so the experience was helpful. The instructor was a very nice guy, we enjoyed him and his sense of humor. And we wives enjoyed the show!!

They were soooo mad at me for taking pictures, but how could I resist? It's not often that a roomful of guys undress in front of me!

That's a smoking flare.

I forget what he called this one, an orange smoke flare, maybe? You can see it for miles, and you can write with it...he marked out SOS on the ground, underwater, and it stayed there!

Davie. I had my eye on Davie. He can't swim. Can't float at all, sinks like a stone. We ALL had an eye on Davie.

Whaddaya know? The suits work! He floated like a turd! We had to pry him out of the water. Didn't he love swimming around in that thing!

Look, Ladies! They can be trained!

     It was a great class. Special thanks to the SeaCoast Mission for funding assistance, and to Lewis for setting it up.

     Friday we interviewed 2 applicants for our teaching positions at School. We are smitten with both applicants, and have offered them the positions. Further details cannot be divulged until the school board meets and officially accepts their contracts. But I can say, we are thrilled!

    This past Wednesday and Thursday I spent off the island with Thing two. My friend Scott agreed to babysit Thing One and Tammy's older two, at lunchtime and after school, and we took the two little ones with us. It was a very long two days!

But, we both came back with a lot of needed supplies, and the summer is off to a rolling start!

    I can't print all of my escapades here...those in the know will laugh and understand...but suffice it to say:

1. there was a head-first fall into the Southwest Harbor Library (by me, not the kid. Shut up. It takes great talent to fall up stairs.),

2. a good third of Wednesday was spent in the bathroom at Home Depot with Thing Two, who spent the rest of the day commando,

and

3. I may be banned from Walmart for life.

      Apparently, I am not meant to shop in WallyWorld by myself. 

When Thing One was about 10 months old, I left her with The Big Guy at the hotel and wandered  Walmart aimlessly for hours. It was, quite literally, the first time I had been alone since she was born. (Where did I go, why, Walmart, of course! It was late at night, around Christmastime, and if memory serves- it was the only place open.) 

When I got to the register, I noticed that some of my items were wet as I placed them on the belt-thing. Not dripping, but drips of water, or something. I didn't care. It wasn't much, and it was stuff that it didn't bother, not clothes or anything. Then I picked up the gallon of bleach in my cart. It was cracked, and dripping. I asked the clerk for some paper towels to wrap it in (yup, I was still gonna buy it), and she freaked. She made an announcement overt the intercom...and suddenly I was surrounded by The Walmart HazMat Team! Dressed to the nines in some waterproof coveralls and plastic gloves that went up to the shoulder!

They confiscated my cart. Well, they tried. I fought. And won! Don't mess with a tired Marissa who finally got some alone time, and think you're going to force her to repeat the shopping experience. I did give them the bleach, but only because they went back and got me a new gallon. I was there for something like 3 hours.

The big guy called me no less than 482* times during this incident.

When I got back to the hotel room, Thing One was in hysterics with hunger (I was nursing), she had on the clothes I'd brought for the next day, and the outfit she'd been wearing when I left was hanging from the ceiling fan, whizzing above our heads at full tilt. The Big Guy is nothing if not ingenious. Not smart enough to change the kid at the first hint of disaster, but he can make a clothes dryer out of a ceiling fan.

I didn't go off -island again for 4 months.

Another time, I had just walked into the store when Thing One decided she NEEDED TO NURSE RIGHT THEN. NOT IN 10 MINUTES. RIGHT THEN. No matter that we had to catch a ferry. So, I ran to the back of the store, to the kiddo section, and nursed her quickly in her infant seat attached to the cart. I stopped as soon as she'd let me, and let her fuss as I ran- ran, I tell you- through the store, grabbing the things on my list.

Now, in the real world, you other Mothers have options. You get to take your kids home when they're having a temper tantrum, like Dr. Phil says to. You would have scrapped the Walmart shopping experience at this point, maybe went out to the car to nurse leisurely, or maybe even gone home, and come back later that night when your Big Guy got home from work. We islanders have no such luxury. If you don't buy toilet paper, YOU HAVE NO TOILET PAPER! I'm kinda fond of tp, myself. I needed the things on my list(can you say 'StayFree'?)! !

I let her cry, and I collected the stuff on my list as fast as I could. All I could think was that I was still going to miss the ferry ride home. 

I got to the register, and threw my stuff up on the belt. When the cart was empty, I spoke briefly with the clerk, and thought it was strange that she spoke back, but wouldn't make eye contact. Perplexed, I kept my eyes on her while she rang up my purchases...and she was looking everywhere but AT me. It was weird. Ah, well, I thought, she's twelve, she's probably never seen somebody so frazzled, and a mess. I'm probably covered with spit-up, or something.

I looked down to see if I was....and there was my boob.

My boob was out.

I never closed my nursing bra, or my shirt after I nursed the baby.

I ran through the store,on a Friday afternoon in summer, with a crying baby, and my whole boob was out. And my boobs are HUGE.

How many people must have seen me?!?Do you know how many people hit that Walmart on a Friday...like every tourist on the way to Bar Harbor!

I've had 3 other bad Walmart experiences to date, and to this day my friend Leslie goes straight to the bathroom whenever she goes to a Walmart, calling my name, half expecting to find me there, in tears.

I don't know why they let me in the door. Maybe it's my bill.

*482 is my new favorite number. It's outrageous enough to not be mistaken for actual fact, but yet somehow cool. You may adopt it if you so wish.

**682 also works well. Be warned, however, that it is slightly less cool.

Tomorrow I will show you a sleeve on the wave sweater, and tell you (because I didn't take any pictures) what I got my swap partner, Dawn. And I'm going to have to send her a second package, because brat # 2, I mean, Thing Two, took stuff out of the box, and I didn't know it...and mailed it off. This is why some people beat their kids. Not me, some people.

Craaaaaaaaaazy!

The whole island is going insane.

That's all I can say.

I, of course, am perfectly normal...though my wine consumption did increase ever so slightly this week.

I have endured meetings Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday...the kind I actually had to participate in and therefore could not knit, ugh.

Today there is a survival suit training class at the building where the post office lives. Which means there will be 14 fishermen under my feet today, along with 4 kids at lunchtime. 

Where's my wine?

Then I'm picking up Sharon Daley, the telemedicine nurse, when I grab the mail on the noon ferry, and she and I will meet this afternoon to inventory the EMS cabinet.

She is coming to dinner tonight (not sure who is cooking due to the aforementioned inventory meeting ), but there will be LOTS O'WINE.

And finally, tomorrow is the day of Teacher Interviews at school.

**Fingers Crossed**

My day will begin at 5:30am, as both kiddos and I have to be at church, dressed and fed, by 7am to prep lunch. 

Anyone who knows me realizes this means I will not be going to bed tonight, as it's much easier to stay up and slam coffee shots than get up at 5:30 and slur all day.

Not a good impression for the potential applicants.

But look! This is what happens when you stress Marissa out too much...she can only drink so much, because , you know, she has 2 kids to take care of and no 'back-up' (translation: Mom lives, like, 300 miles away, so therefore babysitters are limited to the one neighbor dumb enough not to run screaming when asked...)

and anyway, I like to eat waaaay more than I like to drink, so there was this:

now, can we eat it now, please, please?

and these:

and in between, I did this:

yup, that's a half a sleeve. 

Remember that uncontrollable, undeniable yen I had to knit socks back in February?

The one that resulted in these:

and these:

Now I've got it for...of all things...lace.

You know, because that's a nice, quick, easy thing for me to start. Me, who will not knit more than one project at a time. Who is involved with too many boards and volunteer activites, yet has picked up two more in the last month, thereby losing precious knitting time.

Lace.

Yeah, great.

But Oh. My. God.

Look at these....

forest canopy shawl

candle flame shawl

all of Grace's beauties

(really, it's all Grace's fault...if I'd never 'met' her, this wouldn't have happened.)

What's a girl to do?

I'm planning a trip off the island to fondle lace yarn, something with silk, because really...if you're going to spend a year or two on a project, it really should be the bestest yarn in the world you should be working with. And that means fondling to find it, not internet browsing!

Playing Hookey

I have THINGS THAT WERE SUPPOSED TO BE DONE TODAY on my list, just like that, in big letters...and I'm not doing them.

Just wanted to let you know. When I slack, I do it right.

So, Dawn...I have not yet taken pictures of the bathroom, I'll try tomorrow.

I have finished the bottom of the Under The Sea sweater, but you'll see that tomorrow, too.

I have some bracelets done, I think you get the idea of where I'm going with this...

Here is an old pic of some cute kids. This was a day that didn't turn out right, about 3 years ago. Oh well, the kids were cute.

hmmm, there's one missing. Just noticed that. 

Oh well, he got solo airtime recently...he'll understand.

Auntie Ro is doing well. She doesn't like stairs, but says walking isn't bad.

My kids are calling her the Bionic Woman, and they don't have the slightest idea what that means...they are parroting the Big Guy.

We have to be so careful these days what we say in front of them.....

Going to dig up the front garden....we have daffodils growing where we shouldn't have daffodils growing.....

Adventures in Manure

    Yesterday, I got on our boat for the first time in many years. Thankfully, it was flat calm, and a very good ride. The big guy had to bring us across at 5:30am, so he could go haul. I hate mornings. I thought this would be ok because it was free ice coffee day at Dunkin'Donuts; as luck would have it, we never had time to stop...not even at the drive-thru.

And as it's not likely that I'll be doing it again soon, I took a bunch of pics.

aaaah, flat calm. Why can't it be like this all the time?

Here's what I usually get:

Notice that the picture is taken from LAND! 

Thing two has left his mark. He loves to go out fishing, and will be out with the big guy lobstering all summer.

That's Wyatt on his way out to haul. Last time we pulled alongside Wyatt, he mooned us. This time I made sure he didn't see the camera until he went by. Nobody needs THAT view twice!

That's the big guy, my husband, heading out to haul after dropping us at the dock in Bass Harbor.

    Thing two and I had a great time running to Bangor to get the manure. We hit SuperWalmart on the way, and got a couple of much needed supplies for the Post Office. We also got 75 postcards to send out to people in the RAK group on Rav. It was kind of fun to play tourist in Maine, I haven't been a tourist here for 16 years. Maybe that's why I'm having so much fun shopping for my swap partner, Dawn!

     We had some trouble finding the farm, I think it was because I got stuck behind the world's slowest oil truck, and he was blocking signs and stuff. Don't you hate being behind a big slow truck? I'm trying not to bash truckers right now, what with the gas thing going on...I know how hard we're being hit running the boat with diesel; it sucks even worse for them. But, I've always hated driving behind those giant monsters, and still can't pass them! I've spent a lot of time on Maine's highways, and had a couple of scary incidents, but on the whole truckers have always been good to me, signaling speed traps and passing on info on construction, etc.

     So, we found the farm eventually, and quite by accident. The guy was awesome, I could have spent the whole day chatting with him. He has cows and horses, and sent us out to his pasture to see his two new foals. They were very cute, but Mommy horse wouldn't let them come over to the fence, she kept using her body to block them from coming over. 

   He filled the whole back of the pickup with composted cow manure, so dry it crumbled through my fingers. It took us all of 20 minutes to sweep it out of the truck last night! Last year I had fresh stuff, which stunk to high heaven (ask Barbara) and was...umm....juicy. This stuff was pure joy.

   We came home on the noon ferry, exhausted.

Auntie Ro breezed through her surgery, and has a new knee.  She'll go to rehab for a week, and it's rather telling that the older kids in our family thought that meant something entirely different....(I think it's a Brittany/Hollywood connection to the word).

My kids wanted to know why Auntie Ro was in the hospital (they noticed the frenzy of phone calls all day, I never told them she was going in until she was out...). 

I said, "Her knee got too old, she needed a new one."

 Now they want to know the warranty on all their body parts. 

"So, when I'm 20, will I need new arms?"ummmm

"How long does a back last?" not long! 

"What about Uncle Spuzzy and Nana and Papa, are they gonna get replaced?" oooooh boy...

We had a package waiting for us at home from Auntie Kissy and Stephen. (Stephen is my cousin, sometimes he's 'Uncle Stephen', but usually not. Somehow, though, Krissy is ALWAYS 'Auntie Kissy'!) They remembered Thing Two's birthday, and sent him a bunch of stuff, including a 'Stephen shirt'. 

 "What's a 'Stephen shirt'?"

 "You know, it has no arms!"

Apparently, Stephen wears a lot of sleeveless shirts.

And Kissy remembered my whining about my favorite knitting bag...the straps are ripping off (from carrying too much stuff!), and it took months to get just one strap fixed, now 2 more are ripping...I'll be lost without this bag for more months! And she sent me hers!! She wasn't using it (it stinks as a purse because it's deep and narrow...everything falls to the bottom and becomes lost in the black hole).

The Versace Bag.

How lucky am I??

'Course this means I won't be winning the lottery this week. Again. 

Good thing I didn't waste a buck on a ticket.

crappy day ahead

Tomorrow promises to be a crappy day.

I'm hopping on a lobster boat at 5am, to go pick up a truckload of cow manure.

I've done this trick before, and it was quite the experience. My friend Barbara is still laughing about it; I forced her to come with me last year, she knows all the gory details.

Let's just say that wasn't nice smooth sand I was feeling between my toes. *cringe*

Thanks, Jimmy, for the head's up on the manure!

While I will be filling my truck with cow puckies, Auntie Ro will be getting a new knee. She leaves the same time I do, but 300 miles away. We'll be thinking of her while we run around...and she should be done with her surgery by the time we get home on the ferry.

Hope it goes well, she is dreading this beyond words.

Anyone care to hazard a guess at her age? You won't even be close!

Thing two went to Big School again today, and came home with a prize. He couldn't wait to show me his Junited States Flag. Not to be outdone, Thing One put her hands on her hips, shook her head condescendingly and said, "Noooooo, It's the Winited States of America, Dummy!"

I have a lot of work to do.

Nutrition Class

The Sunbeam brought out my favorite Dietitian today, Marybeth Judy, from MDI Hospital, and also Kathy Mulligan who is an exercise instructor there. They were awesome! We had a great time talking about general nutrition, and cooking veggies in new and exciting ways...well, at least with new and exciting spices. Many thanks to Sharon Daley, nurse aboard the Sunbeam and Telemedicine Facilitator, and Marybeth and Kathy. We'll be doing another round in a month or so, with a potluck to try out a slew of new recipes, and talk more about strength training and exercise. Can't wait!! The girls will be staying overnight next time, so we'll have the entire evening. So Cool!

I got to meet one of Sharon's daughters today, Krista. (hope I spelled that right, I'm totally guessing.) She is in her early twenties, is beautiful, and get this: she flies planes. Airplanes. Big Ones. (yikes. I won't even get ON one.) 

Kathy brought out Dance Dance Revolution for the kids to try out, and they had a blast! Here are some pics from today.

all the rest of the DDR pics turned out to be videos, which makes perfect sense, doesn't it?

This is Kathy, slaving away in the kitchen; she made some awesome stuff!

I won't name names here, to protect the innocent...but let's just say that chickie on the left is the one who dropped in on me when my house was a total disaster and caused me to stay up half the night doing some emergency cleaning...haha!

And more pics of my tulips, looking better than ever. Pretty soon these will go by, and I will have to force myself not to cut down all those dying, messy stems. Which is why I'm obsessively taking pictures of them in their prime...I'll need something to sustain me when they look like crap. One year (the first year I planted bulbs) I couldn't take it, and mowed 'em all down. Yup.

 (For those of you who are unaware of the significance of that blunder...apparently, when you cut off a bulb while it's 'green', it doesn't come back. It has to die off completely, and then it regenerates the next year. oops.) 

The following fall, I had to replant. I think the total was 300 bulbs. I've never seen the hyacinths or snowdrops, but the crocuses and tulips come up. Oh, I also gave myself a concussion while planting them the second time, stood up fast and whacked my head on an iron windowbox. It was last seen floating out of the harbor....and the neighbors still talk about the string of profanity heard across the harbor...

Ooooooooooh!

Aaaaaaaaah!

(Oh my god, I just noticed all the weeds!)

I remembered to take the 'after' shots of the patio. 

That fat cat better not be clawing up those screens. We'll close the rest of the wall in around the windows when we can get off the rock to go to HOME DEPOT. NOT LOWE"S. I've decided I'm not a Lowe's fan....which is unfortunate, because that means Home Depot is probably going to go out of business.....it's my curse; I did  it to HomeQuarters years ago...when I said I wasn't a fan of Home Depot...

This is a really bad picture of a really bad paint job. The whole thing was not meant to be.

But it will work as a margarita stand!!!

Check out the awesome clock my sister game me for my birthday.

Love it.

I want to thank all my fellow Ravellers for visiting this month, it was greatly appreciated!

I've been working on that *&&^*)_) bracelet...which I've ripped out and re-designed no less than 482 times. Now I need some wire for the next step, and I have 3 more ideas.

I can't wait to get this out of my system...I have so many cool things in my queue to do!

Super Sunday

Happy Mother's Day, Ladies!

We spent today Spring Cleaning. My kind of day! Woo hoo, the upstairs walls are washed, woodwork is dusted, and bedding is summer-fied  (which means I've put summer quilts on our beds).

I thought I'd get the rest of the house done today, before we head back into another fun-filled week, but it was soooo nice out! We took advantage of the good weather and opened up the patio instead. Hubby put new (well, recycled) windows in the patio; in 2 years we've only been able to eat dinner out there about 5 times. The wind shifts at about 3pm EVERY DAY, and it's just too cool to be out there, so we're closing in the sides with Anderson windows that a neighbor just replaced in her house. They're a bit worn, but they'll do the job of blocking the wind very nicely.

Bet you wish I was smart enough to have taken some pictures of it, doncha?

I also spraypainted a kid table that we use as a buffet table, or, um, margarita stand. It came out kinda....funky....and not on purpose. I'll post pics tomorrow after the kids go to school.

this is a before pic, the wall behind the cactus is what we closed in.

Stamp Rate changes tomorrow to 42 cents...Don't Forget!!

I'm re-working that crocheted bracelet. I wore it for a while, and the bead placement was totally in the way. I liked the way it looked, but it was uncomfortable. A sort of easy fix, but a re-do just the same. 'Course, I had my 'stuff' spread out all over the couch, you know how it is, and along came Captain Couch Potato and his crew of miscreants...they were into everything, so hubby pushed it all into a pile ! I haven't forgiven him, as I lost one of my favorite stitch markers, and I've been plotting some payback.

It's only fair, after all.

A Few Gems...

Check out these gems I received in an email:

"My mind not only wanders, it sometimes leaves completely."  

Let me take this opportunity to relate a blog blunder from this morning. I was going thru the blogs I read, and commented on somebody's post. Then I realized I had confused her with another blogger, and had to go back and re-post an apology for the confusion (thereby proving myself to be a moron). When I went to look for the original blogger....oh yeah, it WAS her all along. So, I left 3 comments, in succession, proving to all and sundry just how stupid I can be, without any effort at all.

"The nice part about living in a small town: when you don't know what you're doing, someone else always does."

AYUH.

"The best way to forget all your troubles is to wear tight shoes."

without a doubt.

"Amazing, you hang something in your closet for a while and it shrinks two sizes!"

(groan) Flashbacks from the night before our Mother's Day Tea...

And, from a poem by Maya Angelou, "Every woman should know what she can't accomplish in a day...a month...a year."

Ms.Angelou needs to come live with me for a week. I think we can learn a lot from each other.

Wouldn't that be a hoot? What wouldn't I do to get her here for a week!?!  She'd more than likely leave here babbling and in need of intense therapy (you know, my normal state), but wouldn't that just make me feel sooo......justified. Validated. 

and I would sooo teach her to knit (if she doesn't already).

Progress on the Ship Ahoy sweater...made possible by a days worth of meetings yesterday:

gotta love the top down raglan!

And finally, it's taken me until 3am...but I just caught up on all the blogs I read.

woof.

Happy Mother's Day, everybody!

2 am

It's now 2 am.

I will apparently be wearing a nightgown to the tea tomorrow, as it is the ONLY dress I own that fits.

I promise to find one without holes, so as to not embarrass my daughter.

Lots of Excitement

Okay, so brace yourselves...I've got LOTS of ground to cover to catch up!

And none of it's knitting!!!

It has been so busy here, getting ready for summer! Some of our summer residents are trickling back, we've seen the Bonds, the Mancusos, and the Bakers. The Hasals came today. It finally feels like Spring. My tulips are looking lovely! I need to look back at the past few years' pictures...but I do believe that this is the most bulbs that have ever come up, which gives me hope for the garden this year. 

Dudes, the weeds are there for naturalizing. Lighten up.

The Post Office is getting spruced up for the summer season, as well. I've requested unloved plants to liven up our small space.I can't wait to see what we get! 

anyone else thinking 'plant morgue'?

Tammy is getting ready to open her store! She is planning what she will offer, and we are organizing the space together (I LOVE to organize). She is as giddy as a schoolgirl, it's so fun to watch her!

I took the kids back to Boston again, for nephew Brendan's First Communion. It was a quick trip, lots of fun. He's so cute!

He's the dude in the middle, looking all holy-like.

Here are Things One and Two dressed for the Communion, and of course, posing for the camera. Wouldn't want to give Mom a picture she could actually frame or anything...

Do I even have to tell you what it took to get him to wear the jacket? His nickname is Panama Jack...all he wants is shorts and flip flops, no matter the weather. It's a joy.

So, we are home for a good 6 weeks; time to get the garden started, get done with school, and get ready for the short summer. We finished the school budget yesterday, coming in with a 4.3% increase at 164,400. Not too shabby, and I'm sooooo glad to have that behind me!

Tomorrow is a Mother's Tea at school. We must attend dressed to the nines (what the hell I'll be wearing is a complete mystery, at 12:15am it's also slightly troubling...). I was at school tonight for art class and saw a silver service set up. I had one of those Raven premonitions of me knocking over the entire table and spilling the hot tea all over the Mothers in their finery...should I bring the camera, do you think??

What else....oh yes...my kids tried to kill me today...

Thing One and two of her friends made lunch today. They made  PB&J and were having a picnic on the back deck (77 degrees out there today!).

When I walked into the kitchen, I smelled a smell. (I ALWAYS smell a smell. Husband goes CRAZY trying to sniff out the smells I smell. Did you know that's a sign of a brain tumor? He reminds me constantly.)

The kids, naturally, smelled no smell. I was all over my kitchen trying to locate the source of the smell. Had my head down the sink drain...it had all the markings of rotted food and I thought maybe something was stuck in the drain...

I checked the trash...

I bleached down the countertops...

I washed the floor in front of the dishwasher where we're prone to spill food...

Still smelled it.

So I decided that either something fell into that crack between countertop and stove and was rotting in the nice weather, or something furry had died under my stove. Either prospect made me wish (yet again) for that level 4 bio-hazard suit (with its own air supply)...and I wondered briefly about the prospect of moving.

With all these darned kids in the house, I had to deal with the problem. So I got down on the floor and pulled out the little drawer under the stove, fully expecting Ben or Willard to greet me (You'll have to be my age to get that rat reference).

Nothing there.

(ok, some dust bunnies. Shut up, you haven't cleaned yours recently either.)

I put my hand upon the stove to get up from my kneeling position....and saw the high output burner on my gas stove turned on and filling the house with gas.

I grabbed all 5 kids with one hand and ran out the door... an acrobatic feat I did not know I possessed the talent to pull off, I might add.

One of the older kids had leaned against the front of the stove and the knob turned. It happens to me all the time when I put dishes away in the cabinet over the stove.

I have ordered the safety thing that covers the knobs from One Step Ahead.

My kids are 5 and 7 and I'm still babyproofing.

Can you believe I didn't recognize that smell?? It really didn't smell like gas (I've had gas stoves for 16 years, wouldn't have any other), I know that smell well. But this smelled just like rotting food.

So I set the kids practically in my neighbors yard (which is pretty far away) and went back in to open all the windows and doors. Thankfully it was really nice out, and we stayed outside for the rest of the afternoon.  I can almost feel my feet again, and my heart has settled back into my chest; I'm sure I'll be okay by tomorrow.

But all of my wine is gone.

It's going to be a long week.

BTW, I really feel that I should receive some sort of recognition for not losing control of my bladder during that whole event. My kids get into some fairly hair-raising situations, and I'm not always so successful.

Also of significance this week: it was Thing two's birthday last weekend. He's five, as he will inform you if you even look in his direction. He's been telling everybody he sees. I can't remember what it's like to be so excited about a birthday.

"I'm five, did you know I turned five, I did, and now I'm five, and I get to go to BIG SCHOOL,'cause I'm five, five, yeah, I'm five, oh yeah, oh yeah, that's right, I'm five......"

This was what he got...a hand built bunk bed...and his own room. My kids have been sharing a room since birth. We knew we'd split them up as they are boy and girl, but it involved moving somebody to the very very small room downstairs that we have been using as The Toyroom.

Now.

I don't know what y'all do, but I'm so not into having my kids on a different level of the house than I am on. I have 3 doors! To outside! He's 5! How's this gonna work?!?

And this room is right off the kitchen! There are knives there! Look what happened with the stove, for God's sake! Am I supposed to leave him down there all alone?!? What if he decides he wants a snack, and goes and gets some food?!? What if he chokes?!? I need to be there! Who will do the Heimlich? Whose idea was this?!?

Surely we need to move, or add on to the house.

We discussed options. We fought. We cried. oh. that was me.

And in the end, we moved the boy down into his own room, and built him a bunk bed. It's nailed to the wall, and rugged enough to hold a sumo wrestler.

He absolutely LOVES it. He slept the whole night through without incident, and even Thing One, who I was afraid would pull some drama at being left alone, slept peacefully through the night; she is even excited to 'girlify' her room, now that he's out.

And I have a video camera watching his every breath.

ahem. you know damn well I was outside his door until 3am his first night down there...and my husband can't figure out why he woke suddenly at 4:30, and couldn't get comfortable, causing him to eventually get up and go downstairs for coffee. In my defense, he's a lobsterman, and usually gets up at that time. Which is why I set my phone to vibrate at that time and kept nudging him when he looked like he might roll over and fall back asleep.

lack of sleep is the reason I have no knitting to show. All my feeble brain can pull off is to float around Ravelry like a ghost. 

Speaking of Ravelry, I joined a swap group, and got a message from my partner today.

I'll have to whisper, 'cuz there's a good chance that she may take a peek here to see what I'm about...but shhhhhh...she seems pretty cool.

Don't tell her, I've already started putting things together to send her. 

Oh, nooooo, it's after 12:30.....and I have to go try on half the clothes in my closet to find something to wear to "The Tea" tomorrow. (only half, 'cause I already KNOW the other half doesn't fit...)

And I think I WILL bring the camera!

Sad news

I haven't updated for a while.

We've lost two people with connections to the island to cancer.

Condolences to the family of Joanne Smart, who we lost to Lymphoma on April 29th, and the family of Kelly Voight, who we lost to Lung Cancer on April 30th.

Joanne was the Mother of Becky Lenfestey and Laurette Lunt, both of whom reside on the island year round, and Melissa who lives on the mainland. Kelly was Mother to Katie and Tim Wiggins. Katie lives here full time; Timmy lives in Florida, but did live here for a time. 

My heart goes out to them all.

They were both such nice, nice people, and will be greatly missed.