Oh, my achin' back

Isn't my Tater just the bomb? She cracked me up with her post today. And she even asked if she could guest post, so I took that as a good sign. Last time I had to beg, bribe and theaten before she agreed. And the cute names she gave to her kids - Tweeny Tot and Tiny Tot - those were hilarious. She was more than aghast that I actually use her kids' names on here. Oops. I guess I'd forgotten to tell her that.

I spent from 9am until nearly 6pm today bent over my dining room table, painting that friggin' football throw board. Sis freehand drew a football player, stadium and field for the carnival's football throw. And we spent the day painting it. All day. And it turned out SO good! She is so talented. But my gosh, it took a long time. Of course, if we had been just painting, we'd have gotten it done in no time, but I took time out to change a few diapers, mediate a few arguments, fix lunch, read Rainbow Fish for the 90 milliointh time this week (And NO I'm not exaggerating. I drew the line at once today.), burn a CD for Tater, lay the kids down for naps, keep Cute Baby from eating the baseboards in my dining room (Nope, not exaggerating on that one either. He's so teething.), throw in a load of laundry when Tater dropped a loaded paintbrush in her lap and then fix dinner. And all that before 4. Then the kids got home from school and things got really interesting.

But ya know, as tired as I am and as swollen as my foot is (Day number two with no shoes. Shame on me.) and as much as my back is threatening to spasm, I enjoyed the day with her. We laughed, we joked, we sang, we enjoyed each other. Next week we start painting the witch for the ring toss. And after that, the backdrop for the polaroid picture booth. I'll be painted out by the time it's time to start my yearly Christmas painting. Oy.

Tomorrow is Kady and Chandler's orientation/meet the teacher day at the Lab School. They are both so excited they can hardly stand it. I'm kind of torn about it all. It's exciting for them and they are going to really enjoy it, but at the same time, my baby(ies) are growing up. Chandler will start PreK next year. Kady might, but I highly doubt it. But still, they are both on the verge of being big, bad four year olds and I'm not sure I'm ready for that. But the thought of them turning four is nothing compared to my oldest child turning 9 this year. NINE!! And Sammy will be 7. I find myself turning to the phrase my grandpa's friends used to say to me as a kid - "Someone needs to put a brick on your head, you're gettin' too big." It was corny back then, but now part of me wonders if it's possible. I seem to be fresh out of bricks, though, and they just keep growing up.

Cute Little Baby wasn't here today and there was a big, huge, enormous Cute Little Baby-sized hole in my house. He had his surgery this morning and I was so worried about the little thing and I know his momma was, too, and he came through like a champ and last I'd heard, he hadn't even cried. What a kid. I know his momma is ready for him to get well and stay well now. I'll be glad to get him back Friday. Of course, Friday Cute Big Baby will be gone and then I'll miss him. But my two school kids will be here because they're out of school, so I'm sure I'll stay busy. We'd go to the park, but it's supposed to be so durn hot I'm not sure we will.

Speaking of the weather, tomorrow is the first day of autumn and we are experiencing about 15 degree above normal daytime highs. Normally by this time of year it's around 80. The last 3 days it's been up around 95 with heat indices around 100 to 105. That's just not right. Oh, the leaves are falling, but it's from lack of rain and the extreme heat.

Today I sent Paul to the bank to make a deposit for my Brownie Troop. I had already written the check to the council for our dues this year and needed to get the money in there. Up until now, I've only written one check from the account for cookies last year and the balance has been at zero since March. I noticed I quit getting statements, but figured it was because the balance was zero. But I got a call around 9:45 from the nice lady at the bank saying that there was no record of the account. None. She couldn't even find the number in the computer as a closed account. So she alerted me as to what was going on and told me she'd call me back. When she called me back she still couldn't find it and asked if I had the paperwork on it. Well, of course, I did - I'm Super Brownie Leader, remember? So I got out the paperwork and said, "Oh. Uhm . . . I'm betting that y'all needed these signature cards, didn't you?" She replied, "Uhh . . . yes. Are you saying you still have them?" "Oh yes, right here in my hand. I bet that's why the account was closed, huh?" "Oh definitely." What the? Where the heck was my brain???????? Oh I filed it all away like a good organized person would do, but I filed the documents I was supposed to turn in. I told Tater that there was no way I was ever stepping foot in that bank again I was so embarrassed. Only the nice bank lady called me later to tell me I needed to come by tomorrow to pick up some new signature cards so we can get that account active again. So now I have to go in there tomorrow and let everyone put a face to the moronic Brownie leader who sucks at financial management. Jill, Chan's mom, works at that bank and assured me that really I am NOT the only person to ever do that, but I really don't want to be lumped into the doofus category with everyone else.

Tonight was the season premiere of Lost. Oh, Bub was bein' all Mr. SunshinePants and was saying, "Well, I feel like there were a lot of questions answered tonight." HUH? There were no questions answered! Only new ones brought to the surface!!! My gosh, that's a good show. We opted out on the new one, Invasion. It didn't appeal. I did hear that Alias is on Thursday this season and thankfully it will not interfere with my watching of ER. Since we don't have a DVR that could've been catastrophic. I bet I'd have gotten in shape, though, from running back and forth between the living room and toyroom TVs. And Grey's Anatomy starts Sunday!! Life is now resuming to normal and I have a reason to live. Okay, so I had reasons before, but still you gotta admit that when the new season starts the world just looks brighter and there's a spring in your step. Okay, so maybe that's just me.

We did the bi-annual going through of the new season's clothes tonight. Yeah. That was much fun. After dinner we gathered all five children into the living room. Tater kids on one side, Diva kids on the other. And the chaos began. Sam has grown SO MUCH since last winter and he was throwing clothes over to TotTwo. Abby was tossing clothes to TotOne and TotOne was throwing clothes to Kady. Then I was taking the ones Kady has outgrown and throwing them in a pile while Bub was taking the ones TotOne has outgrown and was throwing them into a barrel. I don't think it was a 55-gallon one, though. We did this through Destination Lost and finished up shortly after the premiere episode began. And even though the Tater family took their clothes with them, somehow it still looks like the Goodwill Store in my living room. I am vowing to get the outgrown ones to the resale shop on Saturday and while I'm there, scope out some clothes for Ab and Sam. Abby has one pair of jeans that is really too big but will work in a pinch, one sweater, two pairs of pajamas and an old RealTree camo shirt that my friend Trishia's son gave her when she was 6 and she refuses to get rid of it. She says she will not hand it down when she outgrows it. I'm not sure if it's the camo she loves of the fact that Seth gave it to her. Either one worries me. Sam has two pairs of sweats, one pair of jeans and about 5 henley shirts. They both outgrew virtually everything from last year. Kady on the other hand could again this year wear a new outfit every day from now till spring and never repeat.

Tomorrow night is Parent/Teacher conferences. I have no issues to address for my first grader. His teacher and I worked through our problems last week. But my third grade teacher is bound to get an earful because my kid who has always gotten A's in everything except English and even it was only a B is now bringing home at least 3 D's and an F every week. Something is not right there. I think the problem is that she is way overconfident. She's smart and she knows it and she gets in a hurry and is sloppy and misses stuff and rushes through papers. But if there's something more I definitely want to get to the bottom of it. If she just needs more focus, we'll work on that. If she just needs to be reminded to slow down, we'll work on that. If it boils down to her just needing a good sound beating, well, I'm not opposed to that either. She's a smart kid and there's no excuse. (Btw, I wouldn't actually beat my child. Just for the record.)

Paul is now turning out lights throughout the house. That is my cue to get off of here and back to the back of the house where there is light. Since our little ghostie has made its presence known I am not fond of hanging out in the dark too awful much. Call me chicken. I'll cluck for ya all day long. I really am not too anxious to face our ghost just yet.

Happy fall, y'all!!