Progress

Things are progressing around here.

First, I'll give you an update on my thumb. The cast is off! The skin below was nasty and itchy. The thumb isn't really any better than before the immobilization. I'm back in the splint and I will be having an MRI on Monday morning. On Thursday, I see the hand surgeon again. Hopefully, we will know once and for all what is happening with my thumb.

Since I can knit again (and go on the treadmill), I'll be a lot less restive. It's hard for me to sit around all the time. I didn't even do that when I broke my foot! However, sweaty casts are gross, so I did comply.

Now, that is out of the way, I'll give you pictures of growing things.

We have tomato plants!
We have green beans (almost ready to thin).

We have pepper plants.
And finally, we have tiny lettuce plants.

It is amazing what you can do if you try to be creative. We'll have fresh veggies, even though I had a cast during planting time.

First Summer Weekend

First, we walked across the purple people bridge. So we could...
watch the Reds beat the Pirates. (Unfortunately, we also saw Ryan Freel get injured making a play. He caught the fly ball, though!)
Or we can watch Mommy instead.
Books were read,
and marshmallows were roasted.

It was a good weekend.
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To Elizabeth from the comments: I'd be honored for you to link to my blog! Thanks for asking!

School's Out for Summer!

We are on summer vacation. Finally! We can sleep in (well, until 7:00, maybe) if the dogs get the memo.

The Wiz is on his way to first grade, and Game Boy is on his way to fifth. Game Boy earned straight As for the quarter again, and wound up with a straight A average for the year. He won the science award for the fourth grade too. He says he would have earned the reading and math awards, but they were only allow one prize per student.

Our lettuce is germinating, so the veggies are coming along.

Only 5 more days of cast. No matter what, it's coming off. The doctor says that longer in the cast won't help, so it'll be off.

The Wiz is Unique

Yesterday was the Kindergarten graduation. Why they graduate, I do not know. They had a cute little program. He was the second speaker. He got the biggest, awww, how cute! comment of the morning. (There is one child shorter than him. But the Wiz is skinny though and is very elfin in appearance. Add to that the blond hair, blue/grey eyes and no teeth, and he'd make the crustiest grump melt.)

He did pretty well--but after 20 minutes, we could watch him getting wigglier and wigglier. The teacher kept reminding him he needed to sit still, and not talk. When he got his awards, he also nearly had them taken away, because he kept waving them around. During the video, he narrated the whole thing, making sure everyone knew who was in the pictures. I think he'll be spending first grade next to the teacher.

We play games almost every night after dinner. The big ones are Scrabble, dominoes, and Uno.
The boys were playing Uno, and The Collar put down a Draw Two card for The Wiz. The Wiz was drawing his cards, and drawing, and drawing. Finally, The Collar and Game Boy realized he was muttering with each card, "not a 2, not a 2, not a 2." Both of them started howling with laughter. They did let the Wiz put some back, but no one was sure how many cards he'd drawn.

Other Stuff:

Game Boy is going to gifted camp for two weeks. It's in the mornings, but any time the boys can't fight is good time.

I'm still boring.

The Collar is getting ready to go to Chicago with the youth (why aren't they teenagers? Youth is an adjective!).

The dogs are all insane. It's warm here, and all the kids are playing outside, and they think that they should be too.

Smile for Today

He's almost a first grader. The Wiz still has one loose tooth. His mouth is rapidly losing its residents!

And how does your garden grow?

This year, I'm going back to my dorm room/apartment dweller roots and I'm growing a container vegetable garden. I used to grow peppers and tomatoes on the balcony and had reasonable success, so we're doing it again. We, not I, because this year I need some help.

We started with empty toddler wading pools. First, we (The Collar) added drainage holes to the bottom of the pools. The Wiz tried to add holes, but didn't have much success.



Then, we added gravel, and spread it out.







Then, the dirt! We're using Miracle Gro vegetable and flower
potting soil. After this, we're going organic. Organic dirt is quite expensive.




Next, The Collar wound twine around the poles, to make a green bean tent, eventually, anyway.











And finally, we have dirty hands.
I did manage to do some of the work. I spread dirt, carried the seeds, planted seeds, and supervised.

We will have a wading pool of lettuce, one of green beans, some tomatoes, and some peppers. The tomatoes and peppers will be planted next week. Yum. Fresh veggies for dinner soon.

Flowers

Here are some pretty flower pictures for a beautiful May afternoon. All of these are growing in the front flower beds. They are all self-seeding annuals. I do have some perennials in there also, but they aren't blooming much right now. I'm glad that is how I've planted these flower beds, since I am having a *wee* bit of trouble at the moment. Phlox or pinks.

Dianthus in a pot.

Purple larkspur

Red cosmos and I don't know what they are blue flowers.

In Praise of Tape

Game Boy barely broke his finger. All he needs to do is buddy tape it for the next few weeks, then voila!, he'll be fine.

He's laughing at me because he'll be healed before I am.

How unfair!

Everything 'round here is broken

The radiologist discovered that Game Boy did, in fact, break his finger. He has a buckle fracture at the base of the fourth finger.

Surprisingly, he isn't as unhappy about it as we thought he'd be.

We see his orthopedist on Friday.

Title Here

We have been chugging along doing way too much. Not much exciting, mind, but keeping pretty darn busy.

My house is very clean right now, because The Collar's parents came down and helped him clean. I've been having a lot of trouble keeping up with it, because of the thumb. My house sparkles. :) Have I mentioned how much I appreciate my in-laws?

On Friday, Game Boy went to the indoor soccer place for the finished with testing reward. He was playing soccer and jammed his pinkie. He claims it didn't hurt until he came home. Due to the amount of swelling, I took him to the urgent treatment center for X-rays. It's sprained but not badly (we aren't talking my thumb) so it's taped up and splinted. He'll be fine. However, he had to sit out both soccer games this weekend. Yesterday, he won the Scrabble tournament at Gifted & Talented at school. Our evening scrabble games are coming in handy!

I must say that I am sick of X-rays!

The Wiz's soccer team played pretty well, but we lost. I don't care, as long as we improve, which we have. It was a nice Sunday for soccer, but Saturday was extremely hot. The Wiz is now coming home every afternoon rather than going to the Y since I'm home.

That's our news. Game Boy seems to be ready for summer and The Wiz definitely is. I think that geocaching is in our future.

Home from Children's

First, a picture from the inlaws back yard:Isn't that neat? I took it last night from the car when we arrived at their house.

Anyway, The Wiz and I went up to CCHMC for his GI and Hem appointments. One of the things that I am most grateful for (and that I love my inlaws for) is that we are able to spend some time with The Collar's parents around the appointments. The Wiz really enjoys spending time with them without Game Boy.

The GI is pretty pleased with The Wiz's growth, although he's sort of dipping down on his weight curve. He's still 12th percentile for height, though! We have to keep on top of the PI, and we need to continue giving him calorie dense foods. He may soon need to have more enzymes, but he hasn't grown enough yet for that.

Hematology went well. The Wiz has done very well on IG, so we will be doing that again next fall/winter/spring. However, the whole throwing up 9 hours after IG is over is not good, so we are trying a new brand next year, if he's still having a problem after his summer break. We have to go back in a month to run a bunch of immunology tests before we deal with his allergy problems. Lucky Wiz had no blood draws (his term) today. They'll all be next month.

That out of the way, the Inlaws, aka the Baseball Junkies :), treated us to the afternoon Reds game. Before we arrived, Adam Dunn hit a 3 run homer and Junior hit a solo homer. (Actually Adam Dunn nearly hit a cycle--he didn't get a single!) A foul ball landed under a seat next to me, but I was too busy ducking to grab for it. Darn those self-preservation instincts! Today was the first time I've ever seen the Reds win. Usually, if I'm in the stands, they lose.

On the way home, The Wiz finally lost one of his front teeth. It kept him busy a good chunk of the way home.And, today is The Collar's birthday. He can stop with the old jokes now (he's 18 days younger than me).

News

Even not doing anything is busy around here.

I'm not teaching this summer after all (or at least right now). The class didn't have enough students. It might be put online, but I don't know yet. I hope that it is. I'm trying to not panic about money, but it's hard. There are often reasons these things happen, right? I am trying to walk the dog most days, just to have something to do.

The Collar's job search is going ahead. We both feel better. I do hate not knowing where we are going, but I'm sure that we'll know where to go. His birthday is tomorrow, so he can stop with the old jokes.

The Wiz has a GI and a Hem appointment tomorrow. We'll visit the zoo afterwards. Friday is his last day at the Y. We are going up this afternoon. I think that he'll be losing a tooth today.

Game Boy is being 9. He's mad because one of their rewards for testing is an in school dance. Why are they doing that?!? He was elected as president of their school's chapter of FCA for next year.

Here's some flowers. These are growing in the front flower beds. Pretty soon my peonies will be blooming and the larkspur. The cosmos are the red ones and the pink flowers are pinks.

I'm bored.

I can't do anything. Really. Showering is difficult. Brushing my hair is difficult. Buttoning my pants is difficult (it's the whole thumb thing, really!).

Yesterday, I tried to knit. It didn't work.

I'm trying to type, but the huge thumb cast makes that hard.

I can't go for a run, because sweat + cast = eeeewwww.

Cycling is definitely out. I need both thumbs to shift and brake.

I'm even contemplating house work. That's just crazy. (And also difficult.)

So, my blog is about knitting, cycling, and meatloaf. None of which are happening right now. Oh well, we still have adventures.

Oh. My. Goodness.

We went to Cincinnati last night with The Collar's parents to see The Lion King. These tickets were a Christmas gift. It was amazing--and I wasn't all that enamoured of the movie. You could hear the indrawing of breath when the curtain went up. It was one of the best performances of anything that I have ever seen.

The puppets and costumes were beautiful and elegant. They really brought the feel of the music to life. The dancing was also something that was incredible. Game Boy spent the entire musical listening and watching. He was amazed by the puppets. He says its 10X better than the movie. The Wiz was mostly quiet (this should tell you how amazing it was), but did spend a lot of time trying to determine how they did the effects. There's nothing cuter than a six year old very seriously trying to find out how the puppets work and how the rock moves, and so on. A favorite quote: "How did they do the steam effect?" The only thing that disappointed me was that they did not change Timon and Puumba from the movie at all. They looked cartoonish, and pretty much were exactly like they are in the movie(s). Oh well.

If you ever get to see this, you should. It doesn't matter if you have children or not. It is a stunning production, and the boys are both wondering if they can go back.

Kindergarten Derby

His horse didn't win, but he had a good time anyway! Sorry for the bad shot, but it's hard to take good pictures in the gym.

So, how's the thumb?

This will explain it all.At least I'm not having surgery (yet).

Eventful Day!

It's been busy and here and will continue to be so. But, when has it not been busy?

Game Boy lost a tooth on Tuesday afternoon: his first molar on the right side. The Wiz lost a tooth yesterday. (Not the two loose top front teeth, but another one on the bottom.) No, they were not in a fight. It's just coincidence. I told Game Boy that he's too old for the tooth fairy, and he snorted. He's getting to be just a bit snarky. Of course, I have no idea where he gets that. :) The Wiz put his in an envelope and received 5 dimes for it. He's rich!

I know that I said I could wait for the end of the semester, but now I start teaching Human Ecology on Tuesday. It's my favorite class to teach, because I like to teach about sustainability and ecological issues (I tend to freak the students out because I'm neutral on hunting. If you have removed the predators, someone needs to thin the herd.). It's in the evening from 5:30 to 8:00, so the boys will have lots of time at home and we can do things. It's only 3 evenings a week, so it won't be too bad. I'll be finished for my week at camp, and I'll still be able to go on vacation with the family.

It's funny how I landed this gig. The chair was asking me if I was teaching for them this summer, and I said that I wasn't but wished now that I had signed up. She told me that someone had just pulled out of teaching a class in Summer I about a half an hour before. Did I want it, if so, go talk to Jean. I signed my contract 2 hours later. It's the fastest I've gotten a job ever. Now I don't have to go down to the nursery and apply there.

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End of semester count: I have to add up the grades from yesterday's final and submit them. Then I can finish up the grades from 152 and 153. All that's left is my online class.

Knitting will come back soon. I am knitting, but I haven't taken pictures. Tomorrow is the Kindergarten derby, so that will probably be the next post.

One Left

I have ONE thing left before the semester is over.

The final is tomorrow at 2:00.

Two sets of grades will be ready to go by Thursday.

Whew.