Reaching our sensory threshold

This was after about 15 minutes of solid spinning. (My arms got tired.) Obviously when she told me she "needed" to go to the playground, she really did need too. But is it ever worth it when we actually get to the relaxed point.

It is kind of nice being the parent who doesn't have to worry about her child throwing up if she's playing with others on the spinny tire swing.

After the tire swing, we went home and concocted a smoothie drink for Jupiter. Jupiter hates heat and humidity. I adore them. I think there is about a six degree spread where we are both content. But when it gets hot, Jupiter doesn't like to eat. Wednesday was a fairly warm day. After recess, Jupiter was hot when she went to lunch. So all she ate was her watermelon slice.

Then Mean Bear came to school. Which at least demonstrates to the school staff that I was not completely crazy when I made them write "She must eat at least every 2 1/2 hours" into her 504 plan. ( When I got my copy of the plan, I found out they actually wrote it in as "Check in with Jupiter to make sure she is not hungry" and then I banged my head on the wall. You can't just check in to see if she's hungry. 1- she needs to eat BEFORE she gets hungry. and 2- Even if she is hungry, if she's busy doing something else or doesn't want to seem different from her classmates, she's going to say no even if she is hungry."

So anyway, back to the smoothie topic. What she really needs is protein...preferably not combined with 400 grams of sugar. She won't eat deli meat, tuna fish, or eggs. Mostly she eats canned pasta. Which I hate, but she needs to eat something. But she has no desire to eat hot canned pasta from a thermos when she comes in hot from recess. And they're in school until the third week of June this year. So I'm trying to determine a smoothie recipe that she will drink, that I can put in her thermos which would be a cool option.

Last night we used frozen strawberries (leftover from last June...need to use those up anyway) and a banana and some homemade yogurt (slipped that in while she was busy cutting the banana into chunks). Then I let her see me put in 3 squeezes of fruit punch from the juice box and the splash of diet 7up for fizz. If I'd had another second before she finished cutting up her banana, I would have thrown in some flaxseed.

Looked pretty good when we whipped it up. She took a sip and pronounced it delicious. Just in case she needed more incentive (or bribery, it's a fine line...) I sprayed a little whip cream on the top, at which time she pronounced it a professional smoothie and drank half the mug. Which for her on a warm day, isn't bad. We saved the other half for today. Next she wants to make a mango smoothie.

Now my next challenge is to get her to drink smoothies both at school and for 3 1/2 weeks.

Dear Controller of Rain Clouds and East Winds

Please, please stop.

My furnace just came on. It is the middle of May. Heating oil is about $4.50 a gallon.

The amount of self control I need to exercise at the moment to not eat the entire bottle of super potent vitamin D lemon flavored gummies is pathetic.

I watched the forecast on tv the other day and almost cried at the seven rain cloud graphics plastered on the tv screen. I am thankful that I do not have a large screen high def tv. I know there's a sun up above those clouds. I would be happy to see it.

The road in front of my house is washing away. The town has informed me that at the property line between my house and my next door neighbors, my road changes from a public way maintained by the town to a private road maintained by me and the property owners of the other four houses. The culvert is rusting out and dirt under the road is washing away. Last month I threw a bunch of rocks and dirt in the hole. The hole is getting bigger again. I am almost out of rocks. I do not have a degree in civil engineering. I do not know how to build a road. The clandestine research I did at work about building a roadway through a forested wetland was too technical for me. Although I can understand without much research the number of dollar signs involved with replacing a culvert and rebuilding a road. By the way, public works. You plow the road in front of my house all winter. But now you won't fill in the hole. I have plans for the money I have, and it does not involve building a road. So rain, please stop.

Jupiter really needs her outside recess. I am sure the teachers will state that all 950 k-3 students in the school really need their outside recess. The wii and the indoor trampoline and the noisiest bed in the universe only goes so far.

I need summer. It was cold and snowy all winter. Summer here is short enough as it is. Don't gyp us out of the small amount of warm weather we get. Please. I am begging here.

Did I mention begging???

A Day-for Keri who likes to read about regular days

7:30- Wake up in Jupiter's bed. She called me about 6:10. I didn't think she would go back to sleep, but apparently she did. As did I. I try to get out of the bed really quietly so she doesn't wake up. She has the noisiest bed in the world. Maybe because of all the jumping and rocking back and forth she does on it. Maybe I should just get her a trampoline to sleep on. Miraculously, I am successful at not waking her up.

7:40. I go to start a load of laundry. I do this becuase if I don't get a load of laundry in first thing in the morning, I inevitably find myself at 9:32 in my basement staring at the washing machine as it spins for hours despite showing only one minute left on the timer, wanting to put the clothes in the dryer before we leave for "cross". (When she was a baby; Jupiter was mostly attracted to the shiny gold cross that the acolytes carried in each Sunday). Today I NEED to get the laundry in the dryer before Cross, because after cross we are going directly to Jupiter's soccer game. Which I am excited about, because when we get to Cross, we will already be halfway to the soccer field, and I will save ALL that $4 a gallon gas driving back and forth. And since it's raining and cold, I am otherwise NOT overjoyed about going to soccer. Wait, did I say that? I meant, I LOVE watching my daughter play soccer, even if it's cold and rainy and it feels like March outside.

8:00. Jupiter wakes up. She's mad because I closed her bedroom door and she likes it open. I explain that I wanted her to have quiet and dark to sleep later. She needs it. I make her oatmeal and set a half gallon of milk on the stove to scald before pouring it in the yogurt maker.

8:30. I remember the milk I put on the stove to scald before pouring it in the yogurt maker. So much for that. I pour the boiled over milk down the drain instead. I go to take a shower.

8:40-8:55. I take a shower. Unbeknownest to me, Jupiter eats half a chocolate bunny on a stick leftover from Easter.

9:00-9:20. Jupiter gets dressed. In her soccer clothes. I change the laundry, pack soccer water (though we could just open our mouths and look up since it's raining); and grab a little can of raviolies to heat up for Jupiter's lunch in the Cross kitchen before heading to soccer, in an attempt to head off any Mean Bear attacks.

9:40. We get to cross. I end up covering nursery as the person who normally covers nursery has a daughter who is being baptized today. Nobody comes to nursery since they are all either being baptized, have a sibling being baptized, are staying in church to vist with relatives from out of town, or showed up before I came to cover the nursery. So instead of watching children I orgainze the nursery toys and dust the shelves; in between putting away the book of matches (on high shelf/not in nursery) for the candles and then delivering the matches to both Sunday School rooms so they can light their candles. End of the Sunday school year is next week.

10:30. I don't remember putting the bag with Jupiter's soccer ball and cleats in the car.

11:10 I go out to the parking lot and check the car. No bag.

11:15 We drive back home in the car to get the soccer bag. Jupiter eats her leftover Thai food from last night instead of raviolies. I change the laundry again (there's a plus), and find all my warm hats to go watch soccer in 50 degree rain.

11:40 We leave to drive back to soccer. We wave at Cross on the way by.

12:02 We get to the soccer field. When we get out of the car, the coach comes up to tell us the other team is not there. We wait ten minutes. The other team doesn't come. The coach says "See you next week."

12:11 We drive back home. We wave at Cross on the way by.

Now we are at home relaxing. (Okay, I'm looking for all the floors and tabletops and desktops which I am sure are here somewhere under all the stuff). But it's only 2:30. I've still got time.