Just a pirate and his dog

9/11

Gone, but not forgotten.

There is probably not a single person in America, that was old enough to remember and watch what happened on 9/11, that can't tell you exactly where they were when they heard we were under attack.  I remember that day vividly.  Phil will tell you he was loaded on a plane to go to NTC.  They finally had to get off the plane and fly out the next day.  I was waking up in Phoenix, far from family and friends, to a new life, a new country.  I watched the second plane hit, I watched the towers fall, and I couldn't believe it was happening.  I was getting ready for work, like I did every Tuesday, at the NY&CO in the Fiesta Mall.  When I got there, my manager and I were rattled, the reality settling in, and wondering if Phoenix would be hit and where.  There was a message on the phone from the offices in New York that morning.  They were screaming to get out, close all the stores, we have lost all our sister stores and our NY&CO in the Trade Center Towers.  Go home, we don't want to lose anymore employees today.  My first thought that day was is my Mom and Dad ok and my next, when is Phil going to war?  Will he be safe?  I haven't allowed myself to watch the reruns of the events in the last 10 years.  It was too painful for me, even though I didn't know a single person who lost their life that day.  Today I've watched and remembered and felt again the total disbelief that it could have possibly happened.  Our country changed that day, and I hope it was for the better.  My personal life changed the day Phil shipped out to Iraq, before the war even started.  Too this day I haven't watched those imagines, because it was too scary for me.  Phil has lost friends to the ensuing wars, started on 9/11.  His company was the first of any American forces to cross into Iraq when the war started.  Today I dressed for church in red, white and blue, hung the only flag I had on hand, and asked that we not forget about the troops we've already lost, their families and the troops that are still fighting and their families, as well as the fallen on 9/11.  Gone, but definitely NOT forgotten.  May God bless the family and friends of all the people we lost on 9/11.

Haute Couture

The best part, I'd caught that he was wearing 2 tee shirts before we left the house, but didn't catch the double pants until we were going home. I have no idea what the preschool teachers thought. Sigh...

Matthew-isms:

In church, during children's service, he's been talking, so we have had several conversations.
"Don't talk during children's service today." "Ok!" chatters the whole time. after church, "Matthew did you forget not to talk during service today?" "Could you see me?" "Yes" "Don't look next time!" next week "Now Matthew during children's service today" "I know, I know, no talking!" and he didn't.

kinderGARDEN Thursday: week 16, 17, and 18

Hello, all you kinderGARDENERS, we are still here, just overwhelmed with life and underwhelmed by the bounty of the garden.

Week 16 can be summed up by 2 words: squash bugs. I went out that week and it was like squash bug lovefest on the zucchini vines. I had a picture of about 100 drowned bugs, but I decided it was gross, so be thankful you don't have to see it. Matthew helped me for 3 days straight, night and day, pick off bugs to squish or drown.

Week 17 had a return to a bug less garden, beautiful flowers, as shown above, and...

watering in intense heat...

and a baby mini pumpkin. I actually stalked the bloom so that I could personally fertilize it, to be sure we got something!

It was also the week, Matthew and I replanted parts of the garden with winter crops.

Considering the creek behind the house as quit flowing, parts have completely dried up and it hasn't rained since mid August, I have started watering once a week. Week 18, most of the garden is dead or not producing no matter what I do anyway, so I have decided it doesn't matter. I keep telling myself to just pull it all, but I can't stomach it. But with the lack of watering and high temps, I doubt much of the newly seeded areas are going to grow let alone sprout.

So there you have it, crunchy-ville. We have gotten, 7 purple green beans, 5 Chinese red noodle beans, 25 cherry tomatoes, 15 peppers, 9 mammoth sunflowers, 1 mini pumpkin, and basil, mint, and sage leaves the entire summer. Not exactly worth the time so far.

Sailing

To use up the last gasp of summer, the little man and his Mamaw, decided to journey out on the water. A good time was had by all.

First week of school

I have no pictures to show, but I can tell you that Matthew rallied well after the first day and forever after did not want to leave. He was tired but time Saturday came, but refused to let a little thing like sleep hold him down. I am enjoying my work at school. I rallied after Monday as well, but was so tired by Sunday, that I took a 4 hour nap and probably could have slept longer.

Wednesday we had to leave the house by 7 am to rush to the hospital to get Matthew a school physical. Matthew is 43" tall and 38.4 lbs. He was proclaimed perfectly healthy.

Dad left the hospital Wednesday. After they examined the pint of fluid they drained, they determined that he hadn't experienced a blood clot after all, which is excellent news. No blood thinners for him! He has rallied well from all enforced bed rest.

Yesterday was Matthew's first day of gymnastics, for the fall session. He enjoyed himself and Mom was impressed with his concentration. She hasn't watched him since last year.

Hopefully I'll get some photos taken soon and write my tardy garden posts!

1st day of Pre-school!

He was so excited to go this morning that he thought I took way too long to get him there. I doubt I needed to even hug him goodbye! I just wish by time I got off work he hadn't been so tired. About all I got was crying.

What will $5 get you?

One manly stove. And I kept the perfect dishes and food to go with it.


And just for giggles...

First 2 days of school

2 days of school down! The 1st 2 days of ASP went fine. Thursday Matthew and I started our day by visiting his new preschool. He wasn't too sure he wanted to be in a building separate from my school, until he saw his new playground. As I was parking in the parking lot, he was exclaiming, "This is a GREAT SCHOOL!" Nothing soothes the mom guilt like an excited kid! We stayed for 1 1/2 hours and he loved every minute. The boy is ready to fly. Even better, 4 of his friends from our school daycare (which is now closed) will be in his preschool class. He can't wait to start on Monday.

Thursday he stayed in Mom's classroom, katty corner across the hall from where I work in ASP. He brought some toys in his new school backpack.

Friday was supposed to be Mom and Matthew Fun Day, since it would be the last day we'd be home with each other all the time. The end of a chapter, if you will. Instead, we took Dad, at 8:30 am to his dr. appt to get the last staples out, and didn't leave till 2 pm. My Dad had developed a sharp pain in his right side, which prompted x-rays, which promoted more discussion, which promoted a CT scan, which led to more discussion, which led to more chest x-rays. Because they discovered that he had fluid build up around the rt. lung, which was starting to collapse it, they had to drain him. After that he was supposed to be released, but they decided he had had a blood clot end up in the lung, so now the poor man in stuck in the hospital for 5 days, on bed rest, while blood thinners get to work.

Since my ASP boss works in radiology, during the day, she knew that we'd been up at the hospital all day and insisted that Matthew stay, instead of going back to the hospital with Mom. Matthew was so good and had an awesome time. It was interesting because in the other ASP, it was the girls that felt the need to mother Matthew. Here, it was the older boys. Here he is playing soccer with them.

How August has been going!

I absolutely can't believe that today is the 17th of August. This has been the craziest month of the summer, I swear. I guess the place to start is with the first of August. It was our first day home from TX. We thought it was going to be a pretty normal month. We started doing more sorting in anticipation of school starting soon. Friday we woke up and Dad didn't feel good again. All the symptoms he had, smacked of the blood infection he had in early June. So we got him a early afternoon dr. appointment. By 2pm he was in the hospital awaiting gallbladder surgery and possibly appendix surgery. Sunday, he had surgery the old fashion way, because the gallbladder was just that bad, with around 8 big gallstones. The surgeon said in 30 years he'd only seen 5 that bad. If Dad wasn't so tough it would have come out several years ago. He got released the next Friday, which was last Friday.

*photo by Mom

Around the last night Dad was in the hospital, Matthew has alot of fun in the hospital bed. *photo by Mom

The day after Dad's surgery, Matthew and I had doctors appointments. Matthew got his kindergarten shots. Tuesday, my Grandmom went in for x-rays to see what the mass in her breast was. It turned out to be where her bones healed a little out, from where she broke her collarbone around 22 years ago. Thank goodness!

Last Thurday, I interviewed for a job at the elementary school. Several hours later, I was offered an assistant position with the afterschool program. I accepted. This will be my 3rd year at afterschool, first at this particular school.

Saturday, Auntie brought Matthew's big boy bed and we were finally able to use his new bedding. He loves it! Finally he's sleeping through the night in his own bed!

This week Matthew and I ran into town, to run errands. The sun was shining at our house. We went 2 tenths of a mile, went around the corner and it was threateningly dark! We've been loving the showers we've been getting.

One night I was in the kitchen and heard the funniest sound on the back window. I discovered the hugest moth I've ever seen, beating the window with it's wings, as well as the poor tree frogs. They looked like they wished the moth would leave. If you've ever seen a swallowtail butterfly, this moth was just as big as one of them. The only bigger moth I've seen is a luna.

Yesterday I took Dad back to the surgeon, to have half of his staples taken out. Friday he'll go back and get the rest out. We are so glad that he is recovering well. We believe the gallbladder caused all the problems in June. So hopefully he'll have a long time of good health now.

Today I got a call from the principal that hired me. She just got clearance to hire a teacher's aide for the 2 second grade classes, which are extra large this year. I got offered the position! I said I'd love to take it, if I could find a daycare/preschool placement for Matthew. I had been told basically all the daycares in town were full. And both I called were, but revised their positions. In an hour, I was able to get Matthew the very last preschool slot at the daycare in town. He starts Monday and can't wait. I start afterschool tomorrow and will start the aide position Monday. The neatest part is I will get to work with my Mom 2 1/2 hrs a day since she is one of the 2nd grade teachers!