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Monday, May 20, 2013

The flowers that bloom in the Spring, tra la!

I hope there are flowers where you are, even if you got one of those late gifts of snow last week!  It makes me much happier when the days are nice and long, and so much is growing.  Last night, we even had two baby yellow squash from our own yard! 

Many felicitations of the day to Esperanza!   And to Sue's boy!  Passing the virtual cupcakes and cheer.

My poor beloved hurt tendons in his leg the weekend before last, doing extreme fence-building.  He was in pain all week, but felt better yesterday.  Yep, overdid it again.

Passing the pasta salad.

What's going on with you?


Reminder:  Next up at the Wednesday Book Club:  5/22/13 - Sandcastle Girls, by Chris Bohjalian (hosted by Esperanza). 

40 comments:

kathy a. said...

It is festive pasta salad -- rainbow rotini, kidney beans, chick peas, corn, edamame; sliced olives, green onions, peperocini, and chopped bell pepper; fresh mozzarella, marinated artichoke hearts; light dressing and spices. Num.

Miranda said...

I want the pasta salad please.

esperanza said...

Oh, Oklahoma. I'm sorry I can't bear to watch/hear any more.

kathy a. said...

Oh, Oklahoma.

Queen of West Procrastination said...

Oh my goodness. I hadn't heard until now.

kathy a. said...

ahem. my beloved just mentioned that he has numbness on the bottom of his foot -- so this could be a sciatic nerve thing, not a leg tendon thing, and he has had the numbness for DAYS without mentioning it. i could swear sometimes that he just assumes i hear what is going on in his head -- don't think he was trying to hide it, but it seems to baffle him that things need to be said out loud.

Liz said...

((Kathy)). Take that man to the doctor STAT.

Liz said...

The things I want to whine about feel very petty compared with what the folks in OK are going through.

And when I see the small-mindedness and pettiness of the people who are sneering because some of the people that folks in OK sent to congress were unwilling to give aid to Sandy victims and now look....well, I just despair.

We should give aid to OK because they are in trouble. AFTER we've given them aid, maybe we can ask if they wouldn't please send more charitable people to congress next time, but it is mean and nasty to dig at them in the midst of their suffering.

esperanza said...

Yep, Liz. Absolutely right.

W: school decision still not made. Visit Friday was yuck. Revisiting other options previously discarded. Yuck, yuck, yuck.

AW (I think): off to brother's house for niece's graduation. Stinking 8 hour drive. Hopefully Baboos will be in flexible mode and we will be fine.

kathy a. said...

"take" him? i did offer. my 2 cents have been registered, along with commentary. the man has enough problems, so no yelling; but no more mrs. nice wife when he moans.

liz -- obviously OK needs all the help it needs, and immediately -- stupid representatives or no.

sending caring thoughts and love to OK. probably, as usual, red cross is a reliable place to make donations. send cash; it will work faster and be more efficient.

esperanza -- sorry about the continuing school choice problem. have a wonderful trip! we're singing virtual car songs with you!

kathy a. said...

PSA -- please feel free to post all thoughts about this horrible tragedy in OK. but also remember -- this is a safe place to whine about our own littler stuff, too, and to celebrate the anti-whines as well.

kathy a. said...

here's a link on how to help OK victims.

Liz said...

Thanks Kathy. And I didn't mean to imply that you needed to be the caretaker of him. I kind of meant it in a whap him upside the head with a stethescope way, but it didn't come out like that.

Sorry.

kathy a. said...

no offense taken at all! and that's what i did, anyway.

tiny sub-drama AW of the SIL: the caregiver at the home she won't return to wants to adopt her cat, and the caregiver's daughter and son-in-law want to take the rabbits to their farm! my beloved is not quite ready to make these big decisions since things are so in flux, but -- cross the pets off the list of worries, is my view.

i'm sorry if that sounds mean. but she is not going to a place that will take pets, and these pets need lovin'.

Liz said...

It doesn't sound mean at all. She's unable to care for them where she's going. They're getting good homes.

Sue said...

So sad for the people in OK.

((((Kathy)))) If there is pain associated with the numbness, I would suspect sciatic pain.

I'm glad to hear about the animals kathy - as you said, they need some love.

AW: elder son turned 31 yesterday. That is the same age his father was when diagnosed with MS. Our son is fine and has no symptoms at all. It feels significant somehow, and celebratory.

W: this weekend I am going to Little Town on the Prairie for an annual church meeting. The last time anything this big happened in this town, it was a pee-wee hockey tourney. I'm taking along a few good books as there is not much to do in the few free hours we have over the weekend.

Y'all know how I love these meetings!

kathy a. said...

((( Sue ))) yay!

Does the church meeting place at least have wi-fi? But books are good, too.

AW: both my kids got job offers today! #1 for too little, but he counter-offered with just enough more; #2 is just temp, but with an agency that apparently likes her. Yay!

Sue said...

Yay kathy for employed kids!!

Wifi at conference location yet to be determined. If I were a knitter, I would be loading up the car with yarn!

esperanza said...

Hooray for employed kids! And both on the same day!

W: Sweet requires a LOT of sleep. And I am pretty strict on bedtime, because when she doesn't get enough, it's not pretty. There was a meeting tonight, Daddy also busy, girls spent till 30 minutes past bedtime at the church nursery. Total disaster when we got home.

AW: This will get me out of Vacation Bible School, which happens in the evenings, for another year. She simply can't handle it.

Queen of West Procrastination said...

The most superficial possible whine: I'm in an argument on FB with most of my IRL academic friends about the fireplacing Oxford comma! I stated a preference for omitting the comma in the case of a simple list, and they're all acting like I committed the unpardonable sin. My best friend just used the words "I don't even know you anymore," and I just asked "Where did the debate go?" PEOPLE! Don't make it sound like I'm a dude mansplaining away feminism, just because I have a stylistic preference. And PERHAPS before you act like she's an unlearned boor, remember that she's going through academic angst about belonging (particularly right now, as she stays at home with a baby and waits to see if she even gets to complete her PhD!).

So: superficial whine of the day. I need to step away from the computer before my loved ones drive me insane.

Hugs to all the pixies!

Sue said...

esperanza - sorry about Sweet and not enough sleep. One of our boys had the same need for a regular bed time.

Yay for no VBS though!!! Bonus!

QWP - Seriously? A comma war? Oy.

W: It is only 11:00 and I just ate my lunch. It's going to be a long afternoon but I was sooooo hungry.

AW: Today is the first day of sunshine after four days of rain. It was pretty bad. There are flooded homes and washed out roads all around the region. It was not the best long weekend for some, but I have to admit I didn't mind staying in and reading for a few days.

Liz said...

QWP, I apologize, because I would totally be that person.

Though I truly try not to be.

kathy a. said...

Commas?? I mean, seriously? I shudder to think of a discussion about semi-colons, much less bullet-points. Obviously, your friends are deranged, and they don't have awards for Remembering What It's All About. The judicious use of smilies might be in order. Or cluesticks. Or both. ;)

Esperanza -- oy, the sleep thing. The meltdowns. Oy!

Sue -- yay for the sunshine! And, if you need a snack later, you need a snack.

Liz said...

I am truly ashamed because I have totally gotten into religious arguments about the serial comma.

Because it is my precioussss.

But I've never hurt anyone's feelings over it, as far as I know.

kathy a. said...

i just carry on, using my oxford comma and forgiving others, even if comma omission occasionally makes things confusing. sometimes i don't capitalize in informal correspondence, and i understand that make some people boiling mad. to which i say, there are bigger issues.

Queen of West Procrastination said...

Liz: :) I knew that, in theory, there were many who deeply loved the serial comma, but I had no idea that it's become the only acceptable stylistic preference! Where did the anti-Oxford-comma people go?

Giant anti-whine: My retroactive leave of absence has been approved! I now have been on leave until September, and will be so until this upcoming September. It sounds like I might even get tuition money back. What a relief. And then in September I get a do-over of this year, without the insane pregnancy complications, inability to sit at a computer, and extended hospital stay.

Liz said...

My mom finally found the shift key when my son called her on it in an email she sent to him.

But I never call people on it myself.

My love affair with the serial comma started long ago when I was describing a gathering of folks who were coming to a party.

Robert and Carlos, Barbara and Deirdre, Renee and Steve, Terry and Jack. The problem was, Terry and Jack weren't a couple. And the sentence made them look like they were. Add the serial comma, and all was fixed.

HOWEVER, I never call other people on it. I just like it myself. My sweet precious baby comma.


esperanza said...

I use the serial comma, too. Because I am old fashioned. Or just old. Something.

W: I should probably not get started on this. Mr E is struggling with whether he should go with us for niece's graduation. Two people in congregation with potential of dying while we are gone. I need him to just make a damn decision, because it makes a difference what I need to do.

kathy a. said...

Oh, Esperanza. You told him. It's out of your hands. But kinda sucks. 8 hour solo trip = longer trip, more suckiness. xoxo

Knock knock knocking wood, whispering, crossing fingers, waving garlic -- SIL is going to a new place tonight, a place that can handle her, a place that looks perfectly fine. A place that will be difficult for her first ex to go. The Oasis, at least for now. Hospital social workers are ANGELS.

esperanza said...

Yay! Quiet yay, that is. I hope, hope, hope for all of your sakes that it works out well and stays that way.

Still no decision. Tick, tick, tick.

Queen of West Procrastination said...

Oh, Kathy A! I really hope it turns out to be as wonderful as it sounds. And I really agree about hospital social workers. So much love for them.

Esperanza, I have much sympathy with you about Sweet's meltdown yesterday. Today was Li'l E's turn, in the late afternoon, while she was boycotting her final nap. No clue what caused this one. Dealing with a baby who is crying inconsolably...it is not good for the mental health.

Liz Miller said...

QWP: Check the ears. It's always the ears.

Esperanza: hugs. Cluesticks for your husband on their way.

Kathy A.: YAY!

kathy a. said...

QWP -- rocking chair. Ears is good advice, too -- and if it is, you need the antibiotics before the weekend -- but it could just be one of those things. Your sweetness is still very young, right?

Bon Voyage and happy car songs to Esperanza. Congrats to the niece, too!

Wish me luck! About to call MIL and her sister, to advise that they might get a call from the probate investigator, and also update them on developments. The fab aunt will be fine. My MIL may still need to yell some, but things are heading in the right direction.

kathy a. said...

The fab aunt is good! But, I learned my MIL is sick, some kind of stomach thing, they don't know what's wrong, etc. And so all I told my MIL is that this person from the court might call, and -- she sounds so tired and so sick.

So, now I have a call out to MIL's best friend. The best friend's husband asked if I was calling about MIL, or the daughter? I said both, I only just heard that MIL is sick -- and he basically said that MIL's doing OK, she's getting old, she's a good friend to them. His wife will call when she gets back.

AW: really glad my MIL has these good friends.

Queen of West Procrastination said...

Hm. I'm monitoring E today. She pulled at her ears a couple of times this morning (but that's been something she's done a lot, along with eye-scratching, since the snow mold was so bad this year). Now she's napping, but wakes up crying about every 20-30min. My MIL is going to come and spend the evening with me (Mr. Q has another school open house this evening), in case E has another meltdown, and in case we need to take her to the doctor. Having the MIL around will help, because she knows what's normal for E, and knows ear infections.

Ugh. The worst part about being a new mom is not knowing when you're over-reacting.

kathy a. said...

Yay, a local grandma! We took the reasonable precaution of having #1 across the entire country from all relatives, and #2 across an ocean. So don't look at me for advice about over-reacting. ;) It helps to have other adults around sometimes. But can you do a question to the nurse, to see if a check would be prudent? xoxo

Queen of West Procrastination said...

AW: the kid took a FOUR HOUR nap this afternoon, and woke up as the happiest baby in town! I hope that this means she was just over-tired.

kathy a. said...

awards later. keep going!

so glad that nobody was killed in the bridge collapse in WA. and the fairly big earthquake in CA was in a less populated area -- no injuries, even. whew.

Queen of West Procrastination said...

I just realised that my anti-whine from a couple of days ago is likely in the spam filter: I got approved for leave! Retrroactively, I've now been on leave since September, and will be until this next September! Best of all, the university credited me my tuition!

kathy a. said...

QWP -- earlier comments rescued, and congratulations!!! Such great news!

Checking the spam filter, I had no idea how many fabulous offers had come in for fake designer goods, prescription medication, and so forth. Hope no legit comments got lost in the Great Purge.

It's been another busy and productive day with SIL-related adventures, after ye olde all-night headache. So, the host is toast, and self-medicating with netflix and other home remedies. Awards tomorrow!