A Stroke of Genius

Starting last Thursday, I was knocked flat, and I mean F-L-A-T with a migraine that was so wicked, I had Bryon take me to the hospital. I almost never do that because it's a major commitment. One, you know the doctors are going to triage you at the bottom because, let's face it, you are not dying, just in pain. Or, they might, on an off-chance think you are dying of an aneurysm or stroke, or something and triage you to the top, but refuse to treat your pain until they do an MRI or something. All very logical, but sucky when you are shaking. Either way, you are waiting forever until you get treatment. Two, chances are, you won't get treated until they are convinced by either your demeanor your your medical record that you are, in fact, not there because you are really just a drug addict, after a quick fix because what they will treat you with is the "good stuff." Alas, it was really, really bad; so bad that I went to the E.R. as late as 10 pm after class and was there all night. I didn't get out of bed again until Monday. Needless to say, I missed Collin. A lot.

How do you make up for missed time with your little guy? Well, you do stuff that he adores every second you have with him.

Case in point, the minute he got home from school on Monday, we had painting time. We painted for probably two hours while we waited for maintenance to show up. We don't have any smocks so I told him to take off his clothes and he insisted on wearing an apron because that's what he wears at school.

Homer, ever the curious cat, insisted on getting involved. I'm surprised he didn't end up panted.
I just love how happy he looks when he's doing something like this. Last year, I would've said an afternoon like this would've given me gray hair. This year, after Montessori, I could have left the room for an hour. He followed all the directions I gave him about rinsing the brush between colors, not using too much paint, making sure the brush was totally clean, everything. He closed all the caps. That school is worth every stinking penny. He knew it was fun but how to stay on task because it was an "activity." I was in awe of his focus.
There was absolutely zero mess. It took me less than ten minutes to clean up. He probably didn't even need an apron. There was barely even any paint on his hands. I was totally shocked. I had more paint on my hands because one of the containers had an air bubble and it popped in my hands when I opened it. I was just so proud of my little guy.
Such a good boy. And has anyone noticed how handsome he is? Just wondering. He's pretty darn special, isn't he?

"But I Slept on My Ear?!"

Collin doesn't understand why his hair would be sticking up if he sleeps on his ears and not his head. Someone explain bed-head to the child.

Oh, and is it terribly wrong that I never, and I do mean never comb his hair for school? I don't mean that I don't do it out of neglect, I don't do it because I simply think that his hair looking all messy like this is just way too cute for words and I love it. How long can you get away with looking foolish like this? Twenty, thirty years?

Happy Feet

Are you aware of The Frye Company? Don't worry, if you aren't. I wasn't until about three years ago. I'll wait while you click the link...

Are you back? If you were gone for about ten hours, I understand. The first time I actually saw a pair of Frye boots at a Macy's I almost cried. I touched them and they had to be mine. I didn't buy them for over a year but I talked about them pretty much weekly and every time we went to Macy's, I made Bryon look at them, and I tried to get him to admit that they were, in fact, heavenly. He did not agree. There was a significant amount of eye rolling.

He insisted that $300 plus dollars was an absurd amount to spend on anything you step on. I disagree. They smell nice. Once I put them on, I was sold.

Meet my third, yes third, pair of Frye's.

Look, they have buckles! Bryon says I look a little like a Musketeer, as in "Three." I say, they still make me as giddy as that first pair did and they make the entire house smell like leather (says the vegetarian).

I suppose I could have taken a better picture, but they just came a few days ago and it's been raining cats and dogs and I haven't been able to wear them until today and I don't want to take them off. Wait, logically, I suppose I could've taken a picture when it was raining. Oh well, this is what you get until I invent a time machine.

And, I keep pointing out to Bryon that the box insists that they last a "lifetime," so I'm building a "collection" that I plan to wear forever. Yep, that's the story. I am not kidding. Not one bit. What? I could be addicted to crack. This is much less harmful.

Some Frustration--Leading to Craziness

I can't figure out how to do a blog post in word. It has made me so mad that I would almost, almost like to throw this otherwise wonderful Mac out the window and let it crash into a thousand pieces. That tiny application alone has infuriated me. Why, why, why won't you scroll when I upload a picture? Why? WHY! And when I try to find a way around your infuriating little flaw, like say, doing a post in another program other than blogger, why is it impossible to find? WHY!? WHY?! WHY!!

Collin is dealing with his crazy Mom by becoming a nut job himself.

This is Collin.

This is Collin playing a disturbing game he me made up called "decorating a baseball bat." Oh, and why isn't he wearing pants, you might ask? Because he said, "it was more convenient to leave them off because I will be taking a bath soon." It was five o'clock.

This is Homer. Homer is always crazy. No need to associate him with my nuttiness. He sat on my homework no less than a dozen times that morning and gave me "that" face that said, if you don't pet me and stop pushing me on the floor, I will eat your face when you sleep.

This is Collin again. As if you even needed to guess. He decided he didn't need a nap the other day and instead, went spelunking in his drawers and dug out these overalls. Apparently, we didn't know we still had them, and took a fashion-risk. He felt they were stunning. I agree.

By the way, seriously, if anyone knows how to blog post via word on a Mac, I will sell you Collin to tell me. No, it isn't as easy as New/Open and viola it says "blog post." It doesn't.

And Here We Go...

Can you tell that this is my first blog post on the Mac? I can. I'm nervous. Collin says, "pfft!"

So far, it's going relatively well. I didn't have any trouble uploading any pictures. I haven't had any trouble working with Word for my excessive amount of homework or any trouble getting online, or any trouble with anything. My main concern, a-la blogger is that when it does come to selecting photos, their thumbnail views are so itsy bitsy, that I can't really see what I'm picking. Anyone have any tips on that? I can still tell that my husband looks pretty handsome, doesn't he?

Anyway, we had a pleasant afternoon in the blazing California heat, selecting a pumpkin. It isn't fall in California unless you are sweating to death picking your fall pumpkin. It's always so weird. Without the camera zoomed it, you can't see Collin's pit stains. You're welcome.

Zoom: Sweaty meatball. He's awfully cute with rosy cheeks though, eh? I think so. I don't pull off the "glow" as nicely.

Also weird: whenever anyone else is around, Collin's complete and total willingness to forgo sitting with his mother. And, I do mean anyone. It could be a hobo, Collin will absolutely shun sitting by me and sit by an axe murderer for sheer novelty. No, I'm not offended.

It's okay, I left him in the corn maze as punishment. He felt it was a reward. Darn that kid is hard to punish.

I thought that his insistence on posing in all the cut-out pictures was pretty funny though.

Death by Crushing

The year before last, we were invaded, yes invaded, by some seriously large spiders. I never took any pictures of them, just take my word for it. I think we might be in for it again this fall. I'm afraid to leave the house because there are a bumper crop of them lurking at the entry way. This is only one of them.

Now there is one less. Yep, those are his gross little guts

. I was left no choice. His legs were red! Red, people! Red! When a spider is that big and he rears his legs at you, rears!! You must kill him. I swear he was actually wagging his butt too. It's like he was big enough to have independent movement of all those gross little parts. It was creepy.

Despite the creep-factor of the season, Collin agrees. He's a little icked out about the whole spiders lurking by the door thing too. I'm almost about to call Tierra Vista maintenance to spray the house but eh, I don't trust them.

Collin: The Science Kid

I wonder what they whispered on the whisper-ma-phone? Last time I was with Collin at this place, he told me, "I love you," over that thing. It was pretty cool. I have a sweetie pie for a son.

I don't know because I wasn't there. I was at home. Doing homework. I'm not complaining. Nope. Not at all. (Okay, a teensy bit, but only when I find out I missed moments like this).

It turns out I'm loving half my classes and not the other half. It is my final decision that Romantic Literature sucks. So, I'm working hard at making sure I spend the rest of my Master's in the Medieval period and working toward a focus in that, perhaps even a (gulp) thesis. But I don't wanna. Maybe if I show my advisor that previous sentence, I'll be excused.

Anyway, my boy is lucky. He has such a wonderful family. They all came down to see Bryon get promoted and couldn't wait to spend the day with Collin doing whatever his little heart desired. He was so happy to spend the day there. I was sort of hoping they would have an exhibit explaining the word, "echolocation," because he learned it a few weeks ago in passing somewhere and he's been using it inappropriately ever since. Alas, no. They did however have lots of "ecosystem" exhibits apparently, and he's now been using that word inappropriately.

I'm not sure what the heck this thing is, and I'm not sure that I want to know. I'll just go ahead and assume that Collin, and other children, are allowed and encouraged, to be swinging from that rope. Maybe it has something to do with "gravity." But, look folks, California has leaves that change too. We do have "seasons."

And, I don't mean to say that he's saying "Hey you! Ecosystem-head!" No, he just uses it slightly out of context like; he shouts at the top of his lungs and when he tell him to be quiet, he'll say, "but I'm using echolocation." Or today, he said, "my house is a good ecosystem, right?" Oh Collin, you are so darn cute.