The Crab Chronicles

Jumping Around

We've finally had a break from the heat. Highs the last two days were in the upper 80's. Coooool! Bruce wrote and said he was delighted the temperatures in Baghdad were DOWN to 110! Of course, it's a dry heat there.

Our neighbor helped finish the trampoline last night, and the kids have had a blast jumping on it. We've had some serious discussions about safety. I told them one injury, and it's going to Goodwill. I will post some photos when I can.

I made the kids get up earlier than usual today [8 a.m.] so they can get used to early to bed, early to rise - since school is starting Monday! Hard to believe.

We got the grocery shopping done early, and had lunch at Shorty's Pizza. Mother was lunching with a friend of hers, so it was just me and Michael and Alesia. We had a nice lunch. Shorty's is locally owned and serves a thin crust pizza with all kinds of unusual ingredients to choose from. I had a pizza with a pesto sauce base, and pepperoni and ricotta cheese. Alesia's pizza had salami and mushrooms. Mike just had regular pepperoni but he inhaled it. Right now he is hungry all the time, and I know he's growing.

We headed to Old Navy and I got the kids some school clothes. Michael now has about 5 good, collared shirts. Alesia likes to wear only jeans. In some jeans she is a 4, but in Old Navy jeans she wears a 1!

I just read a news article about Georgia and Russia being at war. That situation scares me. We are allied with Georgia, and not Russia? I need to read up some more about that, so I can decide how I feel. I just hope that little horror isn't going to escalate into World War III. It sure would be weird to go to war against my daughter's birth country.

We were watching an old movie called Eye of the Needle the other night. It's a WWII thriller. At one point I was trying to explain about Hitler fighting a two front war, and Alesia asked me a question starting with "we." I wasn't sure what she meant - "we" meaning Russia, or America? She looked offended. "I am an American now, Mom!" The thing is, she used to say "we" and mean Russia. I am actually pleased she thinks of America as her home country. As soon as she turns 18 next year her dual citizenship will end.

Both my children have dual citizenship until they are 18, then they become just Americans, without doing anything. If they want to retain dual citizenship they will have to file some paperwork or something. I want them to just be Americans. I need to get them American passports, but I just haven't gotten around to it yet. Since Michael has forgotten his Russian and becomes more American every day, I don't worry about him returning to Kazakhstan. There is nothing there for him, and no family ties.

I was sad to see comedian Bernie Mac has died. He was a brilliantly funny man.

We had a funny evening yesterday.

Alesia and Michael were sitting on his bed. Mike didn't have on a shirt because he had just gotten out of the shower. He has a little belly. Alesia looked at him with great disdain and said "Michael put your shirt on! Nobody wants to see your roly polys!"

Later, we were eating dinner and Mother was quizzing both kids about the parts of speech. We like to quiz them sometimes to see how they do. Mother said "In this sentence what is the word sweet? I like sweet peppers." Alesia shouted "Adjective!" 

Mother said "OK. An adjective modifies a noun. What modifies a verb? What do you call that?"

Both kids sat there, frowning. Alesia finally said, "A proverb?" Mother had to duck her head, she was laughing so hard.

Michael had been having hiccups. Alesia has a cure method that involves jumping jacks and twisting around - you get so intrigued with it you forget to hiccup. Mike did it and the hiccups stopped, but they started back after dinner. Then Michael said "I feel the hick-em-ups coming back!"

A Day At the Lake

I took a vacation day today, to spend some time with the children before they start back to school on August 11.

I slept late [7:45, whoopee!] and got up and schlepped all over the yard, watering plants and deadheading petunias. Next year I will try and find geraniums. Petunias are pretty but deadheading isn’t pleasant. Mom was right.

I had to help Mother with some financial stuff and eat some breakfast, and it was about 11:30 before we could get away. We went to the Clayton County International Park. It’s a really nice park, south of Atlanta. Takes about 45 minutes to get there. They have bike trails, tennis courts, picnic tables, etc. It’s where the Olympic volleyball events took place in 1996.

We went because they have a man-made lake and a trampoline in the lake. Alesia and Michael thought it would be cool. It wasn’t that great, the kids reported, because they couldn’t get much bouncing done.  However, there was a big water slide they enjoyed, and a little kiddie play pool area that was cute.

I spent the afternoon dashing into the kiddie area to stand under the giant water-spouting mushrooms and cool off, then I’d go back to my umbrella table and read.

I don’t recall ever going to a man-made lake like that. The beach sand is too perfect – like a movie set or something. Hot as blue blazes, too.

Michael felt very self-conscious at first, and didn’t want to swim. After a brief dip with Alesia, he came back and threw himself into a chair near me. He sat and pouted. “Everyone is LOOKING at me!” he complained.

I think some of this is adolescent angst creeping in, and some is just his difficulty with any new situation. He was so nervous about camp he was a total pill for a couple of days, you may recall.

I pondered for a moment how to get him out of his funk. Finally, I said “Michael, you stick close to Alesia. Close, OK? All the time.”

He looked at me like I was nuts. “Why?!”

“Michael, your sister is a beautiful young girl. Nobody is going to look at YOU. They will be looking at HER. Stay close to her.”

He frowned, pondering this. Alesia giggled, “Yes Michael, I am so BEAUTIFUL!” she laughed. I glared at her.

Finally, he went in.

Later, Alesia got something to eat and I went in and swam with Mike a little, and his mood improved even more.

At almost 4, I was starving, and we left. We stopped at Wendy’s, which was the closest place. Michael ate an order of chicken nuggets AND a hamburger. Alesia ate a burger and fries. I had a burger. I couldn’t believe he ate all that.

We came home and crashed for a while, the kids in front of the TVs and me with my book. There’s something about being outside all afternoon, in and out of the sun and the water, that saps all the energy right out of a person. I was making everyone drink water, too. Mike drank two bottles on the ride home.

When we got home it looked like a massive thunderstorm was blowing up. However, nothing much came of it – some wind, a few drops of rain, some thunder and lightning. Not enough rain to do any good whatsoever. Drat.

As tired as I was and as late as we ate lunch, I just made some tuna salad for dinner, and gave the kids a cucumber and tomato salad. Nobody needed a big meal.

Back to work tomorrow. I need the rest.

Photos of the water park are below. The first one shows Alesia and Mike on the stairs at the top, fixing to go down the big slide, which they both declared was the best part.

Tennis and Hemingway

When Michael was at camp, they showed all the kids how to play tennis. Michael played and won the camp tournament, and won a new tennis raquet. He demanded to go to the tennis courts and play as soon as he got home. I was only able to arrange that once, with Kate's son last Saturday. Mike said they played ten minutes then got in the pool and spent the rest of the time there. [Hey, it's hot. I don't blame them!]

Today, I sent this email to Bruce, and several others:
Michael had his first individual tennis lesson this morning, and I attended with him. He did great. He listened to Coach Tom, learned quickly, and showed off that powerful left arm of his.

Obviously, he needs practice in the basics, and the serve is a bit of a challenge, but he will get there. Within the first 5 minutes, with Coach lobbing the ball over the net to watch Michael hit, he turned to me and said “He can really HIT."

When Michael serves, he has to hold the racquet under his short arm, and toss the ball with his left hand, high in the air. That gives him time to grab the racquet and get in position to hit the serve.

At one point, Coach was showing Michael how to serve in the correct area of the court, and he told Michael to just throw the ball, into the right square. Michael did OK, but didn't get the ball in the right place. Then Coach asked if he’d ever played baseball and Michael said nope. Coach showed him a baseball throwing stance. Michael copied it perfectly, and threw the tennis ball so hard it was a major league line drive, right into the back fence. The next one was also powerful but went into the perfect spot on the court. Coach said “You SURE you’ve never played baseball?!"

I paid for 6 individual lessons, which we can accomplish before school starts on August 11.

Coach invited Michael to be on the tennis team. He is going to practice with the 8 & 9 year olds this week, until he gets the hang of it, then probably next week move up to be with kids his own age. I think he’s just starting Mike with the younger kids because of his inexperience.

I don’t know if this is going to really conflict with soccer this fall or not. If so, and I can’t work out the scheduling, I will ask Michael to choose the sport he prefers. It could be tennis. Last year Michael got rather frustrated with soccer, at times, due to being so small and the other boys getting to the ball quicker. Michael wasn’t able to score much. Since tennis is an individual sport, his size isn’t as important. The choice will be his, however, if the schedules conflict

When we got home, Michael said he was really tired, and he might not be able to do any schoolwork. I laughed. Granny will straighten him out on that.

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Today is Ernest Hemingway's birthday. If he weren't dead, he would be 109 years old. I have always been fascinated by his life, but not all that crazy about his books. I read The Sun Also Rises, and one of the books published postunmously, but never found him terribly readable. Too dry. Too macho.

His life, on the other hand, was intriguing. He was married 4 times. He and Scott Fitzgerald obviously had a fascinating friendship. I love the movie In Love and War, which is about his early years as a soldier in World War I. I own that one.

This is his house in Key West, which I want to buy so I can re-paint the shutters:

Loud Music in the Heat

I hate this weather. Today the high was 92. Tomorrow the high is supposed to be 96! Tuesday it cools down to 95! YUCK.

This is the price we pay for living in Atlanta and having nice weather 9 months of the year. June, July, and August are the months we endure sticky heat.

I ran in Kroger tonight to pick up some things I hadn’t been able to find at Publix yesterday, and the ice cream section looked like a plague of locusts had ripped through there. I couldn’t find the Breyer’s low carb ice cream we like. I did find some bars, which will do for emergencies. It’s so much easier to stick to a low sugar diet when one can have a little ice cream after dinner.

We’re not due to get any significant rain for another week.

Bruce called Michael this morning to wish him Happy Birthday, and they chatted a few minutes. It was good to hear his voice – I was sitting right next to Michael on the sofa and we have a speakerphone.

We met my cousin Jan and her son for lunch today at the Colonnade. Jan lives in Albany but was up here for a cousins reunion which we couldn’t attend yesterday.

She gave Michael a cute birthday present, a set of books. They are all by Mary Pope Osborne, and two are the Magic Treehouse series. Michael needs to read more.

The Colonnade had a new appetizer on the menu, something called redneck sushi. It looked like sushi [I had to try it] but it was pulled pork, rice, and several other ingredients. It was spicy and flavorful, and warm, unlike real sushi, which makes me gag. The waiter said the chef had created it and filmed a segment about it for one of the TV cooking shows.

I took the children roller skating this afternoon. What a nightmare. I took two books and tried to read while the kids skated. Michael came over every 10 minutes. Alesia and her two friends were great, and didn’t bother me. The music they played in that place was godawful – I don’t even know how to characterize it. It was a lot of slamming bass and screeching noise. I could hear the thump thump in my sternum. Ugh. I didn’t recognize a single song. Next time I am taking earplugs.

The most horrifying sight was a young woman with a baby and two toddlers. She tried to get out on the floor and skate with the baby in her arms. Yikes. I was so irritated she had a 1 year old baby in that incredibly loud place. I wanted to call DFACS on her, I was so angry. That child is going to have a hearing loss before he gets to kindergarten.

I know I am REALLY OLD now because all I could think of in the skating rink was “Why can’t they turn this crap music DOWN?!!”

Our movie tonight was Fool’s Gold, with Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson. It was baaaaad. Matthew is always delightful to watch, when he looks clean. In most of his recent movies he spends a lot of time looking dirty and unshaven and stinky. Thanks a lot, Mr. Unsexy Symbol. I used to think he was gorgeous.

Mike said the funniest thing the other day, and I forgot to mention it. He said something about “bones and arrows.” We laughed so hard.

We have seen a lot more emotionally volatile Alesia in the last week or so. She got upset and cried about an innocent remark Mother made about her hair this morning. Took me some fast talking to get her calmed down. The other day she cried over some annoying thing Michael was doing. I don’t know if this is just hormones, or if the therapist is starting to break down some barriers around her heart. I am prepared for either scenario, but I pray it’s the latter. Her previous mode was simply to divert her attention from anything upsetting and go into her little world. Now we are asking her to really think about things which are painful, and the really feel whatever she feels.

I think she is finally starting to understand that the therapist and I together have a net underneath her, and she won’t fall. It’s an amazing and scary thing to watch.

 

Mike Goes to Camp and I Endorse Products

This is my third try at typing today's post. Each try, the post gets shorter. When I try and insert images, the machine goes apes**t and closes down on me. Aaaargh!

I got Mike to Children’s Healthcare this morning before 7:30, to catch the bus to camp. He was so not a Happy Camper. I know he was nervous. When we got almost there in the car he said "This camp was NOT my idea, ya know!!" I just chuckled. There were a lot of kids there, maybe 20-30, and all had limb differences. One tall girl was a double leg amputee but she was smiling and chatting with friends. I hope that attitude rubs off on Michael. I talked to one of the therapists and they said they were taking the kids whitewater rafting this afternoon, and horseback riding one day. When we saw the IMAX movie about whitewater rafting down the Colorado a couple of weeks ago Michael said he would LOVE to try that.

Lesleigh and Gary have both been to Nantahala many times and they said the kids will have a great time. Here's the website: http://www.noc.com/

What 11 year old boy wouldn't want to go whitewater rafting down a beautiful river like this? [He's never seen the movie Deliverance.]

I expect when I pick him up on Sunday he will be a happy guy.

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The other day I forgot to list a thing that really annoys me - boys with saggy pants, with their boxers showing. Good lord, is this the end of civilization as we know it?! Every time I see some slouchy kid wearing their pants down low like that I have to physically restrain myself from running up and giving the punk an atomic wedgie!! Mike has been warned.

Just as an experiment, to see if it helps blog traffic - I saw a huge uptick when I posted photos of the Smart Car - I want to see if I can insert some images of things I love.

I haven't eaten this in a long time - I swear - but if nuclear war was imminent this would be my last meal on earth, in all its sinful sugary, fattening decadence:

If I were sent to a desert island and could only take one food, it would be Ritz crackers. I love them plain, with peanut butter and jelly, with cheese, with pepperoni, I am salivating right now...

I took an entire box of this tea to Russia and to Kazakhstan because it's one of the few things I cannot live without.

You are probably familiar with all these, except perhaps Simply Limeade. It's the MOST refreshing, fabulous drink EVER, but more so if you're menopausal and you live in the south. LOL

A Hatchet Job

I knew when I was writing yesterday's post that I was leaving out important Daddy-isms, and Mother reminded me of one last night.

If that ain't good, grits ain't groceries!

That usually came out when he was eating something particularly delicious. Often, it was somethnig he cooked for himself, or I should probably say grilled, since that was what he mostly cooked.

I have been longing lately for more fish. The kids like it, I like every kind of fish and seafood, and we used to eat it 2-3 times a week. We only stopped because I saw a report on TV about how imported fish aren't inspected, and are sometimes bred in filthy ponds and have all sorts of diseases. Yuck! So we stopped buying tilapia and shrimp and salmon and all that great stuff.

We recently found a place close to the house called Southern Seafood. It's a fish market; that's all they sell. Everyone in there is a tiny Chinese person, and only the people behind the counter speak English. The seafood is awesome - it doesn't taste like it's full of chemicals, like the stuff from the grocery stores.

Mike and I went in there the other night and bought 2 lbs. of beautiful, big shrimp, scallops, and salmon for grilling. We had the shrimp just sautéed in butter and garlic and lemon, the other night. Last night, I cooked the scallops. I sauteed onions and some slivers of green pepper [from our garden!] with lots of fresh ground pepper, in olive oil and a little bacon fat. I then threw in the scallops and seared them on high heat, turning constantly. Next I added in heavy cream with fresh garlic, basil, and a little butter - yummy! Even Mike tried one and said he liked it. Thanks be to God we aren't on a low fat diet. LOL

Our movie last night was the biogrphical film about Muhammad Ali, starring Will Smith. When I was a kid I idolized Ali. I wanted to be a boxer. I didn't know much about him personally, but I knew he was a phenomenal boxer. My boxing obsession meant I would box in the garage where my brother had weights and other exercise equipment. I think we even had a speed bag. The day I hung up my gloves was the day I fell down an bruised my hip, a deep bruise that had me in pain for days. I decided then I was not going to be the world's first female boxing champ.

The children didn't know anything about Ali. I had to stop the film and explain a lot of things - Sam Cooke, segregation, black muslims, boxing licenses, etc. It was very educational for them. We didn't finish the film, but we will tonight. My biggest quarrel with it is that we don't really see the man as a person, in unguarded moments. It's too much about surfaces, events, and some clever banter. It's not telling me anything about Ali's heart. Too bad, too, because Will Smith is excellent.

We have tall bamboo in our backyard , for privacy, and it was planted by a former owner. It screens us from the neighbors really well, but I HATE the stuff. It pops up little trees all over the yard, all the time. We have to kick them down to prevent a forest back there. Maybe this is where Mike got his first English phrase "I'm gonna kick him up!" which we still laugh about. So one of Michael's birthday gifts is a hatchet. It's a nice one, with a leather hood over the blade that snaps in place. I will try to teach him proper respect for it and to not run around like a maniac. I think he will be OK. I won't have to worry about him cutting off any of his own fingers. He likes cutting. He got outside with me last night and had great fun with some new garden clippers, helping me deadhead our three large rose bushes.

We got a lot of thunder last night and it looked like it would rain but it didn't. Mother said we got a shower there today, though. We need rain, bad. I might have to get out in the yard and do a rain dance. That always works.