Grading on a Rainy Day

It has been a weekend of rain. If you are paying attention, you know it is much needed. That doesn't mean it is not dragging every last bit of energy out of everyone in this house.  Kids are studying for upcoming tests so the house is quiet. We are able to hear the soft pitter patter of never ending rain. Someone has let the papers stack up all week so she is sitting at the table "quietly" grading. Every so often, I hear commentary from under her breath. Here are some priceless ones:

• No. Not  what I said. Nobody listens to me when I talk.
• I stood there, telling them where to find it! Told them!
• I need a drink.
• I should just play Xbox now. It's more productive.
• I'm thinking I can be done and just do an hour of this a day. I can't do more.

Who says teachers aren't funny?

This.

Catching up from Wordless Wednesday and combining it with WTFriday. Yup.

Weather Update

I can't really be writing about the weather can I?
But yes, it appears I am.
I live in the Golden State. Right now we have had little to no rain so it is more like the dry and dusty state. Nothing is golden anymore, just this sad heartless brown color. We had about a minute of rain this weekend, leaving us with muddy grass because it forgot how to soak it up. This is upsetting because we may be the Golden State on paper, but in real life, we are the agriculture state. We grown fruits and veggies galore.
Here is the thing with growing things, we need water to do it. A state that is in drought conditions and rationing water will suffer when spring officially come along. I say officially because if I glance out my window right now, I will see my cherry tree blossoming already. It's February.
Normally, I try not to worry about these things. I have faith all things will work out in the end. But things are starting to look pretty desperate here. I mean, I couldn't remember how to turn the wipers on in the truck. That's how long it has been.  Fresh fruits and vegetables are going to be a small fortune to buy, meaning in order to stay healthy, our pocket book is gonna feel the pain.
Yet, here is the real concern. The grapes. The heartless brown color of the earth is doing great damage to the grapes of California. Gentle, gorgeous grapes; the main staple of the nectar of the Gods. All this lack of rain is ruining the wine crops. Oh the humanity! Local wineries are actually having rain dance ceremonies, ( complete with chiding publications stating "only come if serious").  See? I told you, things are getting serious over here.  I considered for a moment going to a rain dance, but somehow I don't think me getting jiggy with it is going to make the clouds appear. So instead, I do what every sane person does, look to the skies in earnest and stock up on the penny wine sales at the local BevMo.
Liquid Zen, boys and girls. Liquid Zen.

I live on Writer's Block Lane...

Let's Blog again, she said. 

Yeah... That would be great.

It sounded like a good idea then, but as the days creeped up on me, I suddenly remembered why I stopped blogging. I have too much and not enough to say. At the same time. Honestly, I stopped writing because I couldn't organize it in a timely fashion. And when I finally did, it was too late to post it because 8 billion other bloggers had already beat it to a pulp. And so, I remained silent. And my writers block grew to the size of a house. And then I started living there.
But then my former very good friend (ok, the former was a bit dramatic)  encouraged me to start it up again.
With her.
As a challenge.
30 days of blogging starting.. well... 2 days ago. True to form, I like being fashionably late to the big things. So prepare yourself cyberverse, because here it goes! I am attempting to suck a little less at blogging from here on out. Stay tuned!

It's the Little Things

Today I witnessed a rare event. I saw an elderly man walking with his empty grocery cart back to the store to put it away. It was a hot day and he was moving slowly. An airman came waking out of the store.. walked right up to the old man, spoke to him briefly, then took the cart from him and put it away. The old man sat and watched him, turned and walked back to his car, and had a ginormous smile on his face .
It is the little things that make a difference everyday after all.

Play time

If you work from home, just skip this post all together. You are probably experiencing the same thing right now and will nod you head in vicious agreement and say a version of "Amen Sista" to your screen. For the rest of you, I am taking the time to tell you this: working from home is the procrastinators playground. And like a playground, it is open and luring during daylight hours. This is why I tend to write at night, but I am also mildly attached to sleeping, so I really should focus on getting my writing down in the day.  I am on a deadline. I should be head bent working on a piece right now. And I was. Except, I got hungry. I got up to go grab a bite and saw the breakfast dishes needed washing. I took care of them quickly and noticed a smell coming from the garbage disposal. Pour some sanitizer down there and go into the living room and light the candle. Oh look! I meant to put away those socks under the table last night, lean to grab them and notice the dust bunnies under the sofa are breeding again. Go into the laundry room to throw the socks and get the broom and figure throw a load in while I am in there. Go back and sweep under the sofa and then back into the kitchen to prepare my food because by now I am near fainting of hunger. No possible way to write now. Bring my leftover dinner to the desk to multi task and write while eating and notice the wind chimes are outside blowing hard. Better move them before my neighbors complain. While out there, fix the table cloth on the patio table that is flapping in the wind. Come back in and take a bit of food and wander into the kitchen. How could I have forgotten my drink? Back to the desk to sit and ponder my words.
Start, delete, restart.
Stare out the window at the sunlit back yard. Wonder if I should make a planter box out of the kids old beds.. that is green to the core right? What a good mom I would be reusing wood for something family driven. Look up plans on the Internet. Wait.. didn't I have a book about that over here?
Hold on. Focus. Deadline.
Write.
In my blog.

Ladies and gents... the playground is open.
Have you seen my Zen?

Whoosh! goes childhood.

I have had a surreal weekend. I was lucky enough to get the loft bed from my friend  for Robbie's room. He had been wanting one and in my quest to make him feel like the "big kid" he is, I snatched up the bed. It is an Ikea bed. Ikea is great, but you need a degree in astro physics to put together anything from there. After SEVERAL false starts. restarts, tear apart and realignments, we got the bed up. Then we took down all his "little kid' posters and put up flags he wanted and new posters. He got flags from Mexico, Scotland, Sweden and Ireland plus some posters of bands he likes. We went to Staples and got desks for his room. Also, Kohl's had a sale for over sized floor pillows, and I got one. So we created a room for Robbie that is very" big kid." For lack of another term. Lost are all the small child things he once had. His dinosaurs are tucked away in the closet. The very one's he would line up in a line outside of his room for protection when he was scared. He moved all the toys into the loft area. He is a 4th grader now, he informs me when I drop them off at school. He won't let me walk him to his playground, and instead says good bye in front of the car and branches off from me and AJ and goes the opposite way.. the big kid playground way. My heart hurts. This is my little red head who followed me around. This is the little guy who sat for hours in the sand box, playing with his cars.  This is the little one who would bring a chair up to the counter to watch me make him play dough. Now, he wears deodorant and has a loft bed. Where did the time go? And why did it go so fast?

However, this morning, before school there a moment. I was pouring my coffee and he put 2 waffles in the toaster, then went to do his hair.When they popped up, he was still gone so I went over and cut up the waffles in triangles and arranged them on his plate like I used to when he really was a little guy: in tee pee shapes and formation. Then I drizzled syrup around them like meandering rivers. Once upon a time, this used to make him so happy, so filled with excitement. He came out of the bathroom and looked at the plate and said "aww mama... you made tee pees and rivers for me! Thanks mama!"  And threw his arms around me. And in that moment... my heart healed. Even if just for the moment. Then in a flash, he was the big kid again.

I think I am gonna go line up Robbie's dinosaurs in a line outside my room.