The Contents of a Tesseract

Today, I have discovered that kids still play the jinx game, where if two people say the same word, the first one to say “jinx” has power over the other. My daughter, Bunny, came home from her friend’s, grabbed a notebook and pencil, and furiously wrote the following:

“I can’t believe it! I can’t say anything ever until (L) says my name 5 times! What am I going to do?”

And so begins the trials of preteendom for my little girl. (L) was apparently unwilling to ever say her name 5 times, and Bunny’s little brother was being a tease, so she got a little bored with the whole thing after an hour of furiously writing everything. Being extremely brilliant (I’m her Mom. I can say these things), she found an old pair of crutches in our garage and asked to borrow them. She used them all the way across the circle to (L)’s home. When (L) asked her what had happened, Bunny pointed to her mouth. She couldn’t say anything, so (L) wouldn’t get to know. (L) quickly said Bunny’s name 5 times, and Bunny told her that she just wanted to be able to talk again. They had a nice laugh.

Roo’s finally discovered the “handyman” kit Santa gave him for Christmas. It has real working tools, a tapemeasure, a toolbelt, safety goggles and a hardhat. He’s been excitedly unscrewing every battery-operated toy in our house. Only today did he stop wearing the hardhat to do so. He’s also been affecting a “trucker” accent. You know, the way guys talk to each other when they are staring at, say, a car engine, or a yard. “YEP.. That’s gonna need a phillip’s head screwdriver… ” “Welp, this battery needs a’changin, so we can get it working again.” “Fixed that, *belch* I’m gonna get me some cheetos.” Luckily, his pants haven’t developed that habit of falling down to reveal buttcrack… yet.

The weather’s gone insane. We had such a nice spring, too. It was soooo cold and wonderful. Now, it’s 97 degrees farenheit, a number normally reserved for late July or August. It’s hard to breathe outside, and my hair has decided to look like Slash’s from Guns N Roses. Enter the endless parade of neighborhood children banned from their own homes for one reason or another. Pet Peeve: If you’re going to shove your kids out in 97 degree heat and tell them “go play somewhere”, give them some money to pay for all the food they eat at the “cool mom’s” house, kay? I don’t mind it if we’re doing the “rotating houses” plan, where my kids get food at their houses, but right now, they are all over here, and have been for several days.

Oh! I’m officially a working editor now! Yay! I got paid. So add that to my tshirt biz, my own freelance writing, and my costuming, and I am a busy busy young lady!

Things are so nice right now, even with the heat. Maybe it’s the whole cancer thing that’s put life into perspective, but even the little things are wonderful. Add to that a new-found desire to stick up for myself more and to be *gasp* assertive, and I’m quite a different person these days. I’ve also lost 2 sizes since my surgery, and am still losing. Once I go on the Low Iodine diet in July, I figure I’ll be losing even faster. Have you seen that diet? I had no idea that iodine was in so many foods. Practically everything that is manufactured in some way has iodized salt in it, dairy is straight out, and many meats naturally contain large quantities. So that leaves… homemade bread, fruit, brown rice, veggies, and um.. fish, I think? I’m going to have to tailor my costumes by September

Still had the feeling that you wanted to stay?

I have had.. a bad week. It isn’t the normal kind of humming week where crises happen and are dealt with. This week needs an almost complete do-over.

With three exceptions: Got to see my friend Andra and her kids, come all the way from Denver. Also, Got to see my pal Tonya on vacation from Oklahoma. Oh, and My friend Kirsten’s dog had puppies. Other than that, totally annoying, ruinous, argh kind of week.

What was so bad about it? Well, My mom’s foster-dog was taken by some people she didn’t know to the tv station to get her 15 minutes of fame. Because she didn’t know them, or maybe just because these people were stupid, the dog slipped her collar and ran away. Despite her running away, both people in charge of her care still went inside and were on tv - while the dog was still missing. I guess fame is more important to some. My mom found out on the news. She wasn’t present at the whole thing because she had a Dr’s appointment, so by the time we got down there to start looking, the runaway dog had been missing for 2 hours. Even though the people responsible for the dog’s disappearance claimed they were down there looking for her, they were mysteriously gone when we got there, and did not return to help. The worst part, to me, has been watching my mom get more and more upset about this dog. We don’t know what’s happened to the poor dog, and I doubt we ever will. She blames herself, which is utter nonsense. The area she vanished in is not a good place to be at night, so she anquishes all night, then goes back to stake out this area where there have been known murders, kidnappings and drug dealings - in the day time. This isn’t something I can fix, and I think that’s why I find it coloring my entire week. I want to help her. I want to help the dog - she is a great dog, just really scared of strangers.

Another thing is that I haven’t been able to work out all week. I have practiced my katas, swam and walked a few miles, but it isn’t the same as learning new stuff, or being really pushed to do something well. More gray to my mood.

Then I had a lot of anxiety on Thursday, as my sweet husband had to go in for an endoscopy and a colonoscopy, and my mom couldn’t seem to understand why I was so worried. It was bad timing with the dog missing and all, but I couldn’t drop everything to do what she wanted, so she added to the stress of the day. She was very helpful in staying with our kids while we were at the hospital, though. It’s just me she got annoyed with. My hubby’s insides checked out, and there’s no major problems going on, but while I was in the waiting room, several others got bad news, and I listened to them, all the time wondering what they were going to say about my loved one. Not the best frame of mind to be in, and it stayed with me. Gloom and doom plus gray.

The dog’s still missing, too. I’ve been driving around the area every chance I get looking for her. Mom’s been to the animal shelter numerous times, as have I. She’s just gone. I can only hope someone’s found her and thought “oooh free dog!” and kept her. She needed a home anyway, so that’s just as good.

Thank goodness today’s the last day of the week. As a pickle to my crap sandwich week, the adventure I’ve been working on all week has to wait until next time, because of circumstances no one can control. I just wish I’d found out about it before we spent all day cleaning, and before I elected to work on the adventure rather than sew. Oh well. Sunday can’t come soon enough for me.

Lemonade from Lemons: After having read my rantyness, I have to add this. I have a clean house! I have a free evening. I have a healthy husband. There are lots of things like that. And there’s always next Tuesday for working out. Still don’t know what to do about the dog, but I’ll keep doing what I can.

Come on, Sunday!