Tikatu's Travels Through Time

The Girl just got the results from the two AP tests she took back in May. She passed both! So she now has some college credit under her belt.

The Hubby is home today, and has finished the last fence post across the back. We're talking about what we want to do with the fencing across the front, and the gates, and the fact that I want to put the dog in a kennel when we go on vacation.

Still waiting to hear back from the vet's office about the cats. Need to bring them in and have them medicated, as well as get their shots for the year. Want to see if I can get a discount or something for bringing them all in at once. In any case, I'll have to take the car tomorrow morning. 

More later as the muse moves.

And a happy Father's day for all the dads I know... including my own, my FIL, and my beloved Hubby!

As the title states, the Girl took the second of her College Board tests - the ACT - yesterday. She said it wasn't quite as hard as the SAT and she was glad she didn't have to write an essay. Hubby had Friday and Saturday off as his regular days off, and spent much of yesterday digging post holes for the fence, then repairing the spigot at the side of the house. Friday he went grocery shopping with me, which was nice.

Today we gave him cards and a gift: another Dr. Pepper t-shirt! It's getting to be a household joke - don't know what to get Dad? Get him a Dr. Pepper shirt! I think he has four or five of them now, including the long sleeved thermal one, and not including his sweatshirt style jacket. At least the one we got him today was different; it's two shades of gray instead of the sort of murky red that the others ones are. Next up: Dr. Pepper sleep pants...

Dinner was great! Boy #1 gets into cooking, and did the 5-cup salad for me yesterday, then heated the green beans (his choice of veggie). He also set up the skewers for our first try at grilled seafood: shrimp and scallop kabobs. Hubby did the actual grilling, but Boy #1 set everything up for him. Man, that was good! We used this seafood seasoning shaker stuff on the kabobs. Marvelous flavor addition. And since we thawed out ALL of the seafood, we get to do it again either today or tomorrow! Yum!

Now it's time for me to call my dad and wish him a Happy Father's Day. I don't know why, but both Mother's and Father's Days have just sort of crept up on me and caught me unawares. At least this time it was close enough to payday that I could get cards and gifts - and I put a little something in the packages for the moms, too. They probably should arrive by Tuesday.

Just got back from seeing Riders In The Sky. We've been fans of theirs for years, ever since the kids were young and we bought Harmony Ranch and the days of their Saturday morning TV show (though Hubby was a fan long before that!). It was a wonderful concert, full of great cowboy songs and comedy. Clean, fun... a lot of families brought young kids dressed up as buckaroos and buckarettes . We sat way, way up in the nosebleed section but we could see really clearly from there. The tickets were reasonable, and a check we'd gotten from our mortgage company (overpayment of legal costs) provided the money - though next time, I'll buy them at the box office instead of online and keep from paying the "convenience fee"! All of us had a great time!

Last day of school for the Girl; she had one test in the morning and she was through. The boys finished yesterday. So now we have the summer stretching ahead of us. But first, a milestone to celebrate - the Niece is graduating! Her ceremony is tomorrow, early in the morning, at the BiLo Center. It seems that most all the schools are using the BiLo Center and there are several graduation ceremonies per day there. I guess it's one of the few places big enough to fit both a graduating class and all the friends and relations who show up to see them walk across the stage. Fortunately, Hubby has the day off. Unfortunately - in one way - my folks weren't able to come down for this. However, that opens up enough tickets for the boys to go. There'll be a combined birthday/graduation party for the Niece this weekend. I'm making five-cup salad, but we'll have to wait for Hubby to get off work before we can go down there.

And just as the summer gets off the ground (and I can sleep in late without worrying about the dog) the Girl starts her College Boards. SAT this weekend and ACT the next. Won't get to sleep in those days because she has to be to the exam sites by 7:45 a.m.! Whew! She's also talking about getting her beginner's permit and a job. She'll need the permit for Driver's Ed. next year, but it's still scary stuff!

Walked out with the dog a few moments ago and the night is like a warm wet sponge. Humid, in the mid-eighties - feels like summer has hit us hard the way winter didn't. To be expected, I suppose.

Do you know how much crap collects in the casters of your rolling desk chair?

I sure do.

Mine rolls around on a hardwood floor, wearing down the finish on said floor and picking up more hair and thread and just general crud than you'd believe was possible. It wasn't rolling properly; some of the wheels were barely moving at all. So I had Hubby turn it over and put it on the back of the couch so I could clean out the wheels. Took a couple of hours as I had to do each wheel separately. They turn on their own, you see; each is on their own little axle, and not paired up so the two wheels work together. That made ten of them. Using an X-acto blade, scissors, three different pairs of tweezers, and a pair of needle-nosed pliers, I finally got down to the metal on some of them, and close enough to see the metal on others. A fresh X-acto blade at the beginning of the process might have made things a bit easier.

After all that, my back hurt quite a bit, and all I wanted to do was sit down and be waited on. So we went out to dinner to celebrate birthdays: the Girl's 17th yesterday, and mine today. Went to Applebee's and had an appetizer, entrée and dessert! It was nice to be waited on instead of standing in line at a buffet. 

Then a stop at Bath and Body Works for a few birthday goodies (in addition to the reprint book of Marvel Comics Invaders title that Hubby had already given me at the celebration with Bro, SIL and Niece a couple of weeks ago), and home. Boy #1 insisted on coming into the store and looking for a fragrance just for him. For some unknown reason, he chooses the most floral, fruity or pungent scents possible. For pity's sakes, he's 14! Wearing something frou-frou will get him teased even more than he probably is! We finally did settle on a cucumber scent; it's not too heavy or floral. Kind of clean and fresh. Much better for a teenaged boy.

Hubby is going to try and make coquilles St. Jacques tomorrow. He likes trying new recipes, but only when he has time to fiddle with them. I'm looking forward to the attempt; I love scallops.

Week before last, the Girl told us she was going to the prom. It seems she'd been resisting her friends' importuning for about two months, but had to agree when a boy in their group asked her to go as "just friends". So, thus began the quest for a prom dress. 

Went to the Harvest Happening at church last night. The kids love this; it gives them a chance to run around and visit with their friends while riding the hayrides, eating hot dogs, and drinking hot cocoa. I wasn't sure if they were going to have it; the weather was damp and overcast all day. And boy, did I feel it! Hubby dropped us off and went back to the house to get a couple of folding chairs. Found out that some small creature had made a nest in the red one; there were bits of fluff in there and a couple of holes chewed through the nylon. Once he got back, we ate and then I sat down and didn't move for the rest of the evening. My feet were hurting so much! Dorothy and Sandra came over to chat with me, and I touched base with Debbie and Linda P. Said "Hi" to a lot of people and spoke with Sarajean at length. Have to make sure I get Valerie's wedding gift all wrapped and ready to go.

The kids had a good time. The Girl hung out with her good friend Anneliese, and Boy #1 hung out with Matthias and put odds and ends on the fire. Boy #2 dared Emmy to put something on the fire, and, knowing Emmy, she took him up on his dare. The boys ran around on the playground and I had to specifically tell Boy #1 to stay out of the creek. He told us later that there was a snapping turtle in the creek now.

We bought pumpkins for the kids to "carve" which means that they design a jack o' lantern and Daddy carves it (but they have to clean it out). He got two done the day before and did the last one last night. They are out on the steps now. The Girl's is at the top as usual, with Boy #1's just below it, and Boy #2's at the bottom. Here are some pics:

We'll put candles in them tonight.

The Hubby should be home soon and I'll either go out and get milk and candy to send him out to run the errand. I'm very tired; I didn't get to sleep until 4:30 a.m. with my feet the way they were and didn't get up until 11:00 a.m. Hubby always tells me to wake him so he can massage my feet with Aspercreme, but he needs his sleep, too, and always seems so groggy and grouchy when I ask him to do it. Tonight I'll take my anti-depressant around 9 and see if that helps me get to bed sooner.

funky_cheeseArtisiticRainey finished the pics of my character's kids for IR:TNP and sent me a picture of herself in her beautiful dress. She looked so very lovely! And she did a great job on the portraits, too. I have one more character to develop a description for: my character's mother.

I keep looking for the van, and I'm very much afraid that Hubby has stopped at the library. Well, it closes at 6 tonight so he won't be there very long. Now to get some housework done.

Happy Halloween, everyone!

Well, the car line grind has begun again. I'm still wearing the air splint as per orders. Doesn't seem to interfere with the driving much, but it does make stairs a bit of a challenge. The girl didn't get on the bus at all last week. I complained loudly in an email to the district, and after playing "phone tag" with the head bus supervisor all day I found out why: they gave me the wrong pick up time! Government schools can be so inefficient sometimes.

Speaking of schools, this week is conference week at the elementary school. We've gone to see the teacher of Boy #2. She had nothing but good to say about him, but she seems to be having trouble keeping him challenged. She's got some good ideas for the next nine weeks and I'm looking forward to seeing him come home excited about school. I'll see Boy #1's teacher on Thursday. I expect that will be a similar situation. Found out that Boy #2's class respect Boy #1 very much. Why? He's intelligent and gave them some "cool" instruction on amphibians. Nice to be respected because you're smart.

Looking at Boy #2, I noticed how scruffy he looks. Both of them need haircuts, and so do I. The Girl could use a trim, too, though I know she'll balk at it. Friday. Payday. I can hardly wait!!!

... so today will have to do. It's raining here to beat the band. I think that the vestiges of Frances finally arrived today and are pouring down outside. The girl is not feeling well; said she felt nauseous this morning, so I kept her home. She's really not one to fake such things and I'd much rather have her at home to rest and barf than have to go out to the school to get her because she's barfed all over herself there. Note: she hasn't produced yet....

Spent Labor Day at my bro's and SIL's house. It was nice if you don't count the grill nearly blowing up on us. Flames were shooting out the bottom, melting a couple of knobs and heading down the hose toward the propane tank. Fortunately, I think my husband finally woke up and smelled the Dr. Pepper and told bro what was happening and they were able to turn it off at the tank. SIL made brownies and fudge sauce: chocolate overload! Mmmmmm. It was a good day all around: I woke up yesterday to four review bots in my mailbox, two for Mr. Sunshine and two for Turnabout. Makes me want to write more on Turnabout. Trying to get a plot together for a one-shot Parker fic, too, in answer to my own challenge at fanfics.org.

Found out for the first time that the folks are flying down on Thursday, which doesn't give me much time to clean house. We got some stuff done in the living room on Sunday, but there's a awful lot more to do. I've been working in the bathroom and folding clothes so far this morning. Just taking a break now before plunging in again. I'll be glad to see them; I think they'll be amazed at how big the kids have gotten, especially the girl.

Be back later if I can.