The Not so Lazy Days of Summer

Hey everyone. Let's just skip the apologies for my taking so long to post and pretend I said them, you accepted them and I am properly chastised and motivated to do better. (I am sure that is how my kids would prefer I scold them as well.)

It has been summertime around here and I glory in each sunny, hot day because I love this time of year. More than anything, I love sitting out on my swing and soaking up the rays and listening to music. Perfect peace.

So, here is a peek into what has been going on around the Orr household. As usual, some good, some bad . . . in other words, LIFE.

On Memorial Day, we had a big party that went very well. We had about 30 people here and while having large parties is not all that unusual for us, this one was different because it was a very eclectic mixture of people. We had homeschooling friends, Jon's family, a good friend from Texas who fortunately happened to be visiting that weekend, my computer guy and family, my massage therapist and wife--a really eclectic mix. And you know? It worked. I think a good time was had by all. Food was delicious, weather was perfect and conversations were fascinating.

We are, however, being TORMENTED by a demon with wings at our house . . . no, you don't need to send us a referral for an exorcist . . . this winged devil is a bird. A "scrub jay" as they are known out here. This BIRD (not what I want to call it) apparently has a nest nearby and believes that somehow our cat is going to catapult herself 15 feet in the air into the arbor vitae hedge and grab eggs/babies. Now I completey agree that our cat should not do that . . . she is fed every day and hunting for helpless baby birds is unnecessary. HOWEVER, this bird is sooooooo paranoid that staring at FOUR IN THE MORNING, it perches on our decks (up and down) and proceeds to squawk. Over and over and over again. At three second intervals. As an auditory person, this sound drives me insane. In fact, it is driving us all a little nuts. It wakes up everyone in the entire household. A friend suggested we get a water gun and blast it . . . which we are giving serious thought to. Okay, okay. I admit to occasional delusions of just blasting it with something more permanent but really, I don't want to HURT it, I just want it to GO AWAY, especially since we are attempting to sleep out on our deck again and I don't want to be wakened at 4 a.m. (I say attempted because every single time we have tried it so far, the air mattress--and we have several we are rotating--gets a leak and by sunrise we are flat on the hard, hard, hard boards. At one time, I wouldn't have noticed. Now, OUCH.)

This morning, I thought to myself . . . wow, that bird is almost echoing itself or something. Listen to how often it is squawking. To my never ending delight I discovered that now there are TWO of them in the yard.

Oh.
Lucky

Me

Health issues are jumping up a bit. My vertigo is gone (celebrate!) but I found out last weekend that my BP is way up again. I have been on several different meds for this. Don't add salt to anything. I don't get it. But have an appointment with the doc tomorrow. BP is a pain because there really aren't any symptoms and if you don't check it, you don't know it's up. My biggest clue is my ankles swell while I work at the computer.

Speaking of feet (a smooth segue, wouldn't you admit?), last night Joseph stumbled and ran his foot into the base of the bed. I believe he broke at least one toe. Would he sit down? No. Would he put ice on it ? No. Is he a stubborn man that makes me wanna pull out my hair? You can guess that one. Today the foot is swollen and it hurts to walk. When I suggested perhaps, you know, sitting down and putting some ice on it, he ROLLED his eyes at me. Yes, he did, the dickens. I said, Fine.........suffer. Argh. Men.

On the work front, things continue to improve ever, ever, ever so slowly. I have been picking up some new jobs and already have 6 books on the schedule for 2010 which is reassuring in these troubled economic times . My biggest headache has been projects where I am not given all of the info I need until I have struggled, angsted, wept, screamed and vented and THEN they say OOPS, this bit of instruction might help. Oh well, I like my gray hair, I guess.

So that is about it on this end. Kids are good. Restless. Always hungry. Nicole and Jon are going strong at 4 1/2 months now.

Going to ATTEMPT to add a couple of pics to this post. If they are there, enjoy them. If they are not, I tried, and gave up. Let's just pretend you saw them and say, wow, what an amazingly beautiful woman writes these posts . . .