If only they were antisocial...

If my girls were antisocial instead of popular social butterflies I think life would be a little more peaceful.  Of course, my girls aren't the least bit antisocial and there's really no holding them back from socializing.  Most of the time I don't mind that my house feels like kid central when it's warm outside, but there are certainly days where I wish small people didn't feel the need to converge on my lawn and drive me insane.

This evening is one of those days where I wish my girls were a little less popular.  Two of Madeline's friends rang the doorbell a little over an hour ago wanting to play with her.  I thought I was off the hook since she had just left for two hours of soccer practice.  No such luck.  Ellie happily ran to the door and offered to play with them.  Yep, an eight year old and a ten year old were more than happy to play with my five year old.  Ordinarily I'd be happy that Ellie has someone to occupy her time, but today happens to be day one of patching her good eye and she's currently outside running around like a crazy person with only an eye with poor vision.  I have to say I'm surprised she hasn't hurt herself yet.

The biggest annoyance for me at the moment is that the children who are here now (six and ten year old sisters-the eight year old must have gone home) really want to come inside or go in the backyard to play.  I would prefer to keep everyone out of the house and backyard so the dog doesn't go nuts and so I don't get any questions about some of the baby stuff that's on the deck and in the house. [I still haven't announced my pregnancy to the neighbors, or Bryan's side of the family.  Let's just say I'm enjoying the peace that comes with keeping this news tightly under wraps.]  After forty five minutes of his incessant barking, I gave up and decided to go sit on the front porch.  This option is slightly less irritating than staying inside.

At some point I suppose I will have to spoil all of this outdoor fun with friends and call Ellie in for dinner.  Since this means I will actually have to put dinner together I'll happily sit out here on the porch soaking up some sun just a little while longer while trying not to be too annoyed that my kids are too popular for my current patience level.

Keeping the Neighbors Amused

While it's true that the diabolical Mr. Furkins, my ever faithful and willing scapegoat, doesn't listen to me when we're in the house or on a rare walk, he does however listen to me when I call him in from the back yard.  It's something Bryan remarks on frequently.  He can stand at the sliding glass door calling his furry friend inside and most of the time Bryan will have to actually go outside to get him to listen.  It amazes Bryan that all I have to do is open the door, call him and within seconds Oscar comes trotting in the door.

What's my secret?  I stand by the door and in a very high pitched voice I shout "Inside Mr. Furkins, nyip, nyip, nyip!"  It's very obnoxious and it echos through the back yard, but it works every time.  I'm sure the way I call him doesn't have half as much to do with getting him in the door as the consequences for not listening.  I had too many cold and rainy days where Mr. Furkins decided he wasn't going to listen when I called him, so I decided rather than go out in the cold to get him that I would simply close the door and wait a while before offering him the comfort of inside.  It didn't take long for the dog to wise up and come every time I call.  On the rare occasions when he doesn't come when called he will find himself waiting a good while for a second invite.

Today our neighbors out back were in their yard when I went to call Oscar in side just a few minutes ago.  I think Joe got a good chuckle out of his crazy neighbor who sounds like a lunatic when she calls the dog.  I saw a look of amusement creep across his face once I called for the dog.  It was one of those moments where I felt the need to go outside and explain that I call the like that because it seldom fails to get results, and to remind him that I'm aware that I am that crazy neighbor who does goofy things.  It's all good. I could be an angry or mean crazy neighbor, but instead I'm the delightfully insane neighbor who you can at least laugh at, and in most cases, I'll be laughing along with you.

Maybe some day I'll do a video of my Oscar call and post it here so you can all hear how ridiculous it sounds.

I love my neighbors!

Have I mentioned lately how much I love my neighbors? Last week during the snowstorm I ran out of vanilla, and my next door neighbor kindly lent me enough to make a few batches of cookies. Then, while Bryan had my car a few days later, my other neighbor was kind enough to take me to Target so I could get essentials that we needed while her husband watched my kids.

Today wasn't shaping up to be my best day and then the phone rang. Another one of my neighbors called to see if the girls wanted to come over and play with with their girls. Score! I feel better now that I have had about 2 1/2 hours to myself. I got the house straightened up and most of the laundry folded and put away.

It's amazing how simple acts of kindness from the neighbors can really turn my day around.

What's more fun than 1 sick kid?

That's a silly question! Why, two sick kids, of course! Fortunately sick kid 1 appears to be on the rebound. The 100.3 fever and lethargic sickly behavior only lasted Tuesday night. To be safe, sick kid 1 was kept home from school yesterday. Thanks to an organized third grade teacher, and a willing 8 year old neighbor, Madeline was able to do all of her missed school and homework yesterday afternoon, so she's already caught up. Sick kid 1 still has a cold, but she's going to school today since the fever and stomach pains have passed.

This morning has been moving super slow. Hopefully, this is not a sign of things to come. I like days when Bryan is away on business trips to fly like the wind. Slow moving days, sick kids and business trips do not go well together.

It became evident that I had acquired a sick kid 2 overnight early this morning. My child who is not a morning person and likes to sleep in came downstairs rather early this morning [likely because she heard the voices of our neighbor's daughters down in the kitchen]. She was pleasant at first, but it soon became evident that Ellie had come down with Madeline's cold and was in a grumpy mood. Ellie is not a kid you want to cross when she's miserable, but I'm the kind of person who will stupidly find every way to irritate said grumpy child by accident. I hope to God that this child decides to take a nap today.

The neighbor children have been far more agreeable than I had anticipated. They didn't argue with one another, they happily ate the breakfast I gave them (I fully expected whining and complaining about our breakfast selection--we're not a sugar cereal house [except for me].) They were happy to eat the waffles we had on hand, and they even cleared their dishes when they finished. Oh how I wish my girls felt motivated to do that every morning!

I got to experience what sending my child off on the middle school bus will be like this morning. Let's just say I'm amazed that all I have to do is stand in the comfort of my own home and watch as the middle schooler crosses the street and walks one property length to the corner. How easy is that? That's a shorter walk than the walk I have to make from the elementary parking lot to the spot where I wait to pick Madeline up after school.

In less than 10 minutes my stint of watching the neighbor's kids will be completed [that is provided the surgery goes well and they get home before 1PM]. Here's hoping Ellie doesn't go off the deep end since she's feeling under the weather. I'm ready for a nap!

Side Effects

Medicines can be amazing things. They can take a body that has been racked with a stubborn fever for eight days and make it feel invincible just four hours after they're consumed. Those same medicines can then take the short lived joy over their amazing abilities and turn your world upside down again.

I had about 40 hours of medicated bliss earlier this week. I felt like I was on top of the world. I could function, I could eat and I could finally work on getting my house back in order. I could even play with my kids and stop feeling guilty for being sick.

Those good feelings started to go away Tuesday. I was in denial that morning that things weren't as great as I was pretending. I couldn't eat my cereal because I was nervous about the first day of school for Madeline. Not because my appetite was gone. Then my reason for not eating was cleaning the house and the litany of other things I needed to do. Turns out I was just in denial of all the nasty side effects of the medicines. The antibiotic has wreaked havoc on my intestines. What goes in, almost instantaneously comes out. And one of these lovely medicines have killed my taste buds. I LOVE food. I miss the flavor of food. Drinks taste like diet versions of what they are (a taste that repulses me). I'm pretty sure I've temporarily lost the ability to taste things that are sweet. I feel lost without my sense of taste. I'm like Capt. Barbosa in the Pirate of the Caribbean.

The only food I ate today that did taste good wound up having a bad ending. While eating, a spice from the chicken and pasta dish I was eating hit me in the back of my throat. I started coughing and couldn't stop. I think Oscar thought I was about to die (I thought this, too.). I've never seen him look so frantic. I tried to drink juice and it wouldn't go down. So I headed to the fridge for water. That's when I vomited on the freshly mopped floor. FUN! And still, the coughing wouldn't stop. So this time I call Bryan to try and tell him that I might be dying and I had the pleasure of vomiting in my kitchen sink. Thank God for garbage disposals. So happy I did not have to scoop that out of the sink. Not that it's funny, but this all happened at a point in Bryan's day when a lot of stuff was going wrong at work. Poor guy. He really had a rough afternoon between me and work. I did however manage to finish my lunch. I couldn't pass up food that tasted like something.

I'm just very bummed about the side effects of these meds. I can handle the intestinal issues (to a degree), but I can't handle the itchy irritation that is also a side effect of this antibiotic in a certain area, the loss of appetite and taste. I called and got a different antibiotic prescribed for me (one I have taken in the past that doesn't bother me). I am really anxious to just feel better.

On top of all of this, I'm also worried about what to do for Madeline's birthday. I have no party planned for this poor child. I'm not sure what we're going to do to celebrate her birthday yet. She was such a huge help to me last week when I was unable to do anything and I just feel terrible that I don't have anything special planned for her. I'm sending her into school tomorrow with soft pretzels to celebrate her birthday with the class. On Saturday we're going to have munchkins and celebrate with her team after their first soccer game of the season. If all goes well I'll be able to get some of her friends over here soon to have a little party or maybe she can take a few friends to see a movie.

My wonderful neighbors helped me out a lot today. Kelly took Ellie for several hours today so she could play with her two younger girls. That allowed me to rest and almost kill myself with my lunch. Joanne has been concerned about me and has been calling me all day to check on me. She was kind enough to pick Madeline up from school. It's amazing how these little acts of kindness can do so much to help me. I'm certain that I feel better today than I did yesterday because of the help they offered me. I'm used to trying to play super mom and do it all. It really isn't easy for me to accept help, but I'm finding that sometimes letting people help me when I clearly need it is precisely what I need to be doing.

Looks like I have a new skill

I got a call from my neighbor this morning. Sara, my neighbor from outback called me and told me about a small crisis they accidentally created. She's taking care of the pets for my neighbor around the corner and across the street (Sara's across the street neighbor) while they're on their cruise. This morning when Sara was taking care of the dog and cat she accidentally locked the key to the house inside the house. She was hoping that I had the neighbor's cell phone number since that was also locked in the house. I had the cell phone number, but I had to explain to her that you generally can't get a cell signal when you're out on the open sea. My step father-in-law works on a tug boat, so this is one of those factoids that I have picked up along the way.

The neighbors were concerned that a locksmith wouldn't open the doors for them since they don't own the house and they have nothing from the neighbor stating that they are taking care of the house while they're away. That could be a problem since getting in touch with the neighbors will likely be impossible. I know they make port in two more days but that's a long time for a dog and a cat to wait for their next meal.

I decided that I'd take a stab at getting into the neighbor's house. Yes, I decided to see if I could break into someone else's house. Nice, huh? I practiced on my own house first. I found that I could open a locked door with a credit card. I think I saw that on a show before. It worked on one door in my house but not on another door. I figured it was worth a shot. It didn't work at the neighbor's. Then I decided that we should take a look at the windows. If the windows were unlocked I figured we could easily get in and cause the least amount of damage. Shockingly, all of the ground floor windows were unlocked. So I picked a screen to rip (while the pool guy was there taking care of the filter timers) and got into the neighbor's house. It took me less than two minutes to break in since my neighbors had handy tools on the deck that were perfect for ripping the screen open. So now I can add breaking into a house to my list of valuable skills that I have to offer to my neighbors. My neighbors out back are getting a second key made to leave at my house, and I'll be replacing the neighbor's screen once the other neighbor gets the spline I need to secure the screening in the frame. I guess it's a good thing for the neighbors that I know how to repair a screen, too.

So the crisis for the day is adverted. My neighbor will get a disturbing text followed by a reassuring one once she gets into port. It amazes me how I never have a dull moment around here.

I did learn that children are not discreet in the least. While Joe and I were trying to figure out what we should do to get in the house, my girls and his kids were chanting "Break-in!" over and over. Yes, I took my kids along with me to demonstrate how to break into someone's house. I'm sure that's a valuable lesson that will stick with the four impressionable children I had watching me. I can hear it now. The kids out back are probably going to tell their mom that they watched Miss Karen break into Miss Joann's house. They made sure they told me I was really good at it. Gee, thanks. If this honest living thing doesn't work out for me I guess I could turn to a life of crime. I clearly have the aptitude for it.

So I guess I'm the hero for the small dog and cat that live at the neighbor's house. And, I helped my other neighbors out so they didn't have to stress out anymore about locking the keys in the house. If you are going away and someone is taking care of your house for you, give them two sets of instructions (one for your house and one for them to keep at their home) and two keys. It will save people like me the trouble of having to break into your home.

On a more upbeat note, I'm still alive. I'm still not feeling well, but I'm hanging in there.

What a day!

I think I stuffed at least two days into this lovely August day. It's funny how some days seem so underproductive and others are bursting at the seams with things to do.

I took the girls swimming before 9am. Ellie practiced her "Super Girl pushes" and a few other swimming things. Then I raced Madeline and taunted her in the process. She knows it's all in good fun, and it will make her immune to mean kids.

Once we finished swimming, I got the girls and myself ready to head out to run errands. I needed to drop some paperwork off at the parish office and then I needed to go pick up some household necessities that we needed. Can't go without toilet paper now, can we? I realized when I pulled up to BJs that I should stop at the craft store and see if I can get more crafts for the CCD class I'm going to be teaching exactly one month from now. I managed to get crafts for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Valentine's Day (I'm a planer.) and just generic Sunday school themed crafts. After that we swung by Chick-Fil-A to get lunch. (Love their lemonade!)

Once we got home we watched Ella Enchanted. I liked that I didn't have to argue with Madeline about why Bryan and I don't feel that her shows aren't appropriate (Hannah Montana, iCarly and the like). The girls and I really enjoyed the movie. I think I just need to start putting movies on for the girls. If I do that we can avoid commercials and I can control the content better.

Today was also the day that the new Amazon Vine newsletter came out. As a Vine member, I am given the opportunity to select products that I'd like to review from a list. I managed to log on to the new newsletter as soon as it went live this afternoon. I am over the moon that I am getting a Britax booster seat for Ellie. I also picked a picture book to review that I think Ellie will like. I woke up this morning hoping to get a couple of new books. I never imagined that I'd get the opportunity to review a car seat. I have a thing for car seats and strollers so this is right up my alley.

I took the girls swimming at our neighbor's house later in the afternoon. We wound up staying there for 6 hours. I absolutely love hanging out with my neighbor from out back and my neighbor from around the corner and across the street (these neighbors live across the street from one another). While over there, I learned something new: My favorite pizza place actually delivers to our neighborhood! I'm amazed. This place is a 10-15 minute drive from our house and they actually are insane enough to drive all the way out here. They've offered delivery for about three months, but Bryan and I always assumed that we lived too far away for them to deliver. I guess we shouldn't have assumed.

In all, we had a great day. I wish every day during the Summer could be this good.

I hit another time warp!

Sometimes I think the days move a little too fast for me. Or, perhaps I just have so much going on that time slips by without me noticing. Either way, I've had a busy past few days. Some of them seemed a little long and others went by in a blink. Funny how that happens sometimes, don't you think?

Friday I took the girls down to the beach. I always tell people that we are going to stay for 1-1 1/2 hours and no more. I'm not too fond of sitting on the beach surrounded by Shoobies. Even if I'm no longer an island resident, I still consider myself a local. How can I not be when I was born and raised down there? I actually feel like I'm living with the Shoobies year round since I see bumper stickers plastered on their minivans with the names of my home town and surrounding beach towns all the time. If you are a local, you wouldn't be caught dead with that stuff on your car (unless you're a senior citizen). Those decals and stickers drive me insane. I simply don't see the appeal in vacationing down there. I used to run the front desk of a "nice" beach front hotel, and I can tell you that you couldn't pay me to stay there. I'll go to Disney World, thanks.

Anyway, the girls and I had a really good time on the beach. My father-in-law and his girl friend (the girls' Nana) went to the beach with us. I got some great pictures. (I'll upload them eventually, I've been having iPhoto issues ever since I imported 24,000 photos a while back.) My father-in-law taught Madeline how to boogie board. She had a blast. Ellie was a bit of a grump at first, but she came around when she got to jump through the waves. She gave her Nana a run for her money. First they tried to unsuccessfully build a sand castle and then they played in the water. I mostly just followed the kids around and took pictures. That's pretty much what I do when we go to the beach. We wound up staying at the beach for nearly three hours. I'm not sure if I've ever spent that much time on the beach before.

Fearing a massive guilt-trip from my mom, who called while we were on the beach, I decided that I better stop and visit her on our way home. The girls decompressed from their beach trip at my mom and dad's house, and I showed my mom the pictures I took on the beach. By the time we were ready to leave there, I was totally beat.

Before we could make it home, the girls were asking me when we were going back to the beach. I remember when they hated the beach. Now they want to frequent it. Why oh why when you have a beautiful pool in the back yard would you want to sit in the car and take a long drive to a crowded beach where the parking meter only gives you 12 minutes for a quarter? (Which, by the way I did not pay. I'm too cheap so I parked two blocks from the beach where it was free and made the kids walk.) It's possible that I may take the girls to the beach one or two more times. In actuality I had a good time down there with them. I'm willing to bet I could have more fun if I don't bring the camera.

Saturday was one of those days that zipped by really fast. It was significant only because it marks the day that I entered the current age, and got a cell phone that can text, take photos, videos and go online. My old phone was older than Ellie and all I could do was talk on it. No voice mail, texting or photos. Just a plain old outdated phone. I'm now the proud owner of an iPhone. Who knows, maybe I'll get into Twitter sometime down the line.

Sunday was a pretty lazy day. Since I took the girls to Mass on Saturday night, we had a leisurely morning. We spent a good portion of the morning playing in the pool. Then I hit a time warp (surprise, surprise) and lost the middle of the day. Our neighbors came over for a swim in the late afternoon and they ended up staying for dinner. I've been saying since May that we need to have a cookout, but it hasn't happened. So last night we finally got to have that cookout. Too bad it wasn't planned. We could have made it better if we were prepared. We were tired at the end of the day, but once again, I was very happy to have such great neighbors. I don't have a single neighbor that I don't like.

Today was one of those days that just a strange mix. It flew by, but I feel like I got a lot accomplished. The girls and I had a lazy morning again and then we hit the pool. I thought I'd be nice and let Mr. Furkins come out with us so he could romp through the yard. We banned him from the pool last month since all he does is drink the water and then pee all over in the house when we let him in the pool. I thought everything was going well until I didn't see Oscar for a few minutes. When I called him I wasn't expecting to see a muddy dog come trotting up to the pool fence. Apparently, my furry friend found a muddy puddle and decided to roll around in it. He just had a bath (two of them to be exact) 8 days ago. So our pool fun was cut short so I could bathe the dog. Oscar is rather fluffy looking right now. I think it goes without saying that Mr. Furkins will not be romping in the yard on his own while we swim anymore. That dog just keeps burning bridges. I caught up with a friend and my (favorite) brother today, as well. It was a full day, but it went by a little too fast.

We've been sucked into the good neighbor vacuum

I'm not sure when it happened, but apparently we've been sucked into the good neighbor vacuum.  There's a new needy neighbor in town, and she asks for more stuff than I do!  It's funny how this stuff works, isn't it?  It's nice to know that I'm not alone.  I ask for random ingredients and she asks for things that are even more random.

A few days ago, I got a call from my neighbor, Joanne, who is around the corner and across the street.  She needed laundry detergent.  That was a first for me.  I've been asked to give the kids a ride to school or religious ed, but never been asked for detergent.  Sure, why not.  Later that day, I picked up her daughter from school since she lost track of time and forgot to pick her up.  Next thing I know, I'm running thank you notes over to her so her kids can write an end of year thank you note to the teacher.  Ok, that's fine, no big deal. That lead to me picking up their dinner from my favorite pizza place.  And that lead to Bryan fixing their computer and coaching her husband Rob through the assembly of the leaf bag for his riding mower.  In return, I was told a priceless story about their pool contractor finding them in shall we say a compromising situation.  A situation that could have been avoided by using something called curtains. 

Then we fast forward to yesterday evening.  Joanne calls me wanting to know if she can store a grill box in my garage until tonight.  She wants to surprise her husband for Father's Day.  I told her she could.  Then she shows up with an incredibly heavy box that requires two men to move it.  So I had to call my neighbor from down the street, who doesn't know the neighbor from around the corner and across the street, to help out.  Look at that! I'm building a community based on favors.  So poor Ed, probably wishing he had never answered the phone, came down to help.  Next thing you know, Joanne is asking for grill assembly. Really?

Bryan and Ed, being the good neighbors that they are told her they'd put the grill together.  It took them close to two hours.  They also decided that they would walk the grill over to Joanne and Rob's house tomorrow night.  Assembly and doorstep delivery? Wow!

Today I am going shopping with Joanne for curtains (Yeah, they need 'em!).  She likes the way I've decorated my house and she wants my help with window treatments.  So it looks like I'll be playing decorator today.  I like shopping when I get to spend other people's money.

Small Successes

Celebrating the little things in life that add up

1. Ellie let the dog outside yesterday afternoon without a leash, and I managed to successfully capture my crazy dog with the help of yet another set of awesome neighbors. Have I mentioned recently how good all of my neighbors are to us? I hope that Ellie never does this again.

2. Ellie is finished preschool for the year. She had a little graduation on Tuesday and I felt such a rush of parental pride as I watched my little Hippie Hopper* sing and dance.

3. I have started to accept that Madeline is growing up. I am now allowing her to ride her bike around the block (sidewalk only) with the boy from next door. Letting go can be so difficult.

*Just another one of the litany of pet names I have for Ellie.

Carrots

Sure, they seem like such unassuming vegetables, but did you know they can make you lose sleep?  How?  Well, if you sign up to provide carrots for your child's preschool class and you realize that you didn't buy them the night before the morning when they're due, you can lose sleep obsessing about how you once again forgot something for your child's class.

I'm not sure why I'm always forgetting the stuff I volunteered to send in for Ellie's class.  Maybe I don't like 3 and 4 year old kids.  Or, maybe I don't want the teacher's lesson plans for the edible alphabet to go as planned. Or, maybe I just need to learn to write this stuff down on my trusty Mom's Family Calendar.  I do, in fact, like Ellie's cute little Busy Bears class and their wonderful teacher.  I'm fairly certain that Miss Susan probably thinks I'm a ditz.  Then again, she's probably just really grateful that I remember to pick Ellie up at the proper time each day.  I was relating my forgotten carrots story to the director of Ellie's school today and telling her how I never forget anything for Madeline's school, but if it's for Ellie's class I always remember at the last minute.  She's kind and tells me it's because Ellie only goes two days a week and Madeline is at school all week long.  I think I only have the capacity to manage one kid in school.

So this morning I pawned Madeline off on my neighbor (not the ones the give me random ingredients or birthday pies).  I called her up and explained that I forgot carrots for Ellie and that I couldn't drop Madeline off at school,  stop at the grocery store for carrots and still get Ellie to school on time.  She kindly agreed to give Madeline a ride.  It's so nice to have good neighbors.  I don't think Madeline was too thrilled that I opted out of taking her to school.

So the carrot crisis has been averted.  And do you know what I did as soon as I dropped off the carrots?  I signed up to provide the cupcakes for the preschool graduation.  Will I remember the cupcakes at the last minute?  Your guess is as good as mine, but I think I'm going to go write it on my calendar right now!

I really do have awesome neighbors!

Yesterday was my birthday.  I started to think that the universe was working against me late in the morning when I couldn't find my birthday pie.  I went to two Shop Rites, one Acme and the dreaded Super Wal-Mart (I seriously dislike setting foot in Wal-Mart).  I called Bryan after I went into two grocery stores and asked him to check on line to see if Mrs. Smith's still sells my beloved lemon meringue pie.  A minute later he confirmed that it still existed (although my visit to the Mrs. Smith's website a minute ago leads me to believe it is a product that has been phased out).  After that phone call I went to Wal-Mart and one more Shop Rite in vain.  I called my mom and told her about how my birthday took a sour turn because I can't locate my birthday pie.  She checked her local Shop Rite and came out empty handed.  

Shortly after resigning myself to the fact that I wasn't getting my pie, my phone rang.  Kelly, my neighbor, was calling me to let me know how her daughter made out at the ophthalmologist that Madeline sees.  I mentioned how the universe was working against me on my birthday and told her all my pie woes.  Kelly offered to run into the Acme that is near the place where I get Madeline's glasses since they were headed there.  I honestly didn't think she'd have any luck.  About 90 minutes later she calls me and wants to know who my favorite neighbor is.  I went from bummed out to over the moon happy in seconds.  So I let Kelly know that she was my favorite neighbor, of course.  Turns out she and Mary decided to make finding my pie their mission for the afternoon.  They went well out of their way to Path-Mart and found my pie.  How incredibly nice of them was that?  I feel so fortunate to have such wonderful neighbors.

That pie made my birthday a very happy one.  It's nice to know you have friends out there who are willing to go above and beyond to find you a pie.  If everyone had neighbors half as nice as the ones I have, the world would be a better place.

So thanks, Kelly!  It may have seemed crazy that I needed a particular brand of lemon meringue pie when other brands and even bakery fresh ones were all around me, but you cared enough to find my pie and that means a lot to me.

I have awesome neighbors!

I wrote last week (I think it was last week) about how I'm that crazy neighbor that asks to borrow sugar and other random food items.  The neighbor that I ask for the food is just really nice.  She doesn't tell me to take and hike and go to the store and buy some food or anything like that.  I feel very fortunate to have such a nice neighbor.

I have other great neighbors, too.  There's a family that lives around the corner from us with three little girls who like to play with my girls.  I get along great with their mother, Kelly.  She accepts me and all my crazy characteristics.  Her husband, Steve, is a really nice guy, too.  Yesterday on the way to pick up Madeline from school Steve was driving behind me.  He noticed that my break light was out and was kind enough to tell me when I got to the school.  You're reading this and saying well that's just common courtesy, right?  Well, I mentioned that I'd have to go get a bulb and hope that Bryan would get around to taking care of it for me soon.  Steve, being the awesome neighbor that he is, told me he would change my break light for me.  I am incredibly grateful that Steve not only alerted me to the blown out bulb but, also replaced it for me.  I really have the best neighbors.  As far as I'm concerned, Steve saved me a second trip to the inspection station.  My car is due for inspection this month.  If I didn't know about the break light, I would have failed the inspection and that would have cost me another trip to the inspection station.  So while it may have seen like a small thing to him, it really meant a lot to me.

Memory, where have you gone? I need you!

I suspect greatly that by the time I hit 50 I will have no memory to speak of.  Maybe I'm sleep deprived or maybe I just have too much going on right now, but one thing is certain:  I seem to lack the capacity required to remember things.

Over the course of the weekend and into today, I have made more trips to the store to buy things I forgot while I was there the first time than I can recall.  I was talking to my mother yesterday and she suggested that I go grocery shopping after I told her about how every time I turn around I find out we've run out of yet another essential ingredient for whatever meal is being prepared.  Last Tuesday, while I was making a meatloaf, I had to borrow an egg from my neighbor because the one I had left expired 6 weeks ago. How on Earth did that happen?  I find it so hard to believe that I haven't brought eggs since March (not counting the run of the mill white eggs I brought Holy Week for the kids to dye on Good Friday).

Apparently, I am that neighbor that you see on the 50's TV shows that comes knocking on your door asking to borrow a cup of sugar.  I always realize at a crucial point of the cooking or baking process that I'm missing something essential like milk or eggs.  I think my next door neighbor expects my strange requests now. If nothing else, I add humor to her day when I call her up asking for random ingredients.  And, I have learned that your neighbors don't want you to return 1 1/4 cups of milk or an egg when you've finally decided to go grocery shopping.  My wonderful neighbor now tells me that she doesn't want the two slices of bread back when she saves me from a hungry three year old's hunger induced tantrum.  Bryan tells me that I'm crazy for even offering to repay what I asked for, but I think it would be un-neighborly not to at least offer. 

So, now that I've made separate trips to the store to buy bread, toothpaste, peanut butter, shampoo, soap, sugar, apples and eggs over the past four days, I come to find out that I need to go back to the store and buy bread, again.  What on Earth happened to the last loaf?  We have two slices left for Madeline's sandwich tomorrow.  On some level, I should note, I am not always aware that we have run out of a certain food or essential item.  Bryan has a habit of using up the last of something and doesn't bother to alert me. He makes Madeline's sandwiches for school and will often use up the last of the bread and not tell me.  I only find out that we've run out of bread when I go to make Ellie a sandwich later in the day.    My current lack of memory only makes the situation worse.

Because I have Madeline's First Communion coming up this week, I have made sure that I have lists detailing what I need to buy at the stores and what needs to be taken care of at the house.  If all goes well, I will be able to get myself organized and focus on getting the house ready for a brunch, instead of running to Target and Acme every few hours to pick up another forgotten item.