Weekend….please don’t leave!

From the travelers - Quincy is super impressed with the St. Louis basilica, saying it was beautiful and she wishes she could attend mass there.   She wasn’t as impressed with the jazz museum or Jackson Square, where the jazz band performed for a little while.  They also took a master class at Loyola, but I heard nothing about that from either of them.  She also reports that they saw no ghosts on the ghost tour.  

Preston has said very little. He sent me zero pictures.   He did say that the jazz museum was boring to him, and that although he can recognize the amazing talent of the musicians there, he didn’t enjoy the performance.   He said nothing else at all.   At least I know he’s still alive.  

From the homestead - Jim and Andrew got the mower running. It even cut some of the long grass in the side yard.   They were excited about finally seeing it work!   Evie had a great time riding with her daddy.  Thanks to Andrew for all the help. And also to Preston who got the ball rolling!   We got this mower last fall for free.  I think we have around $100 in parts in it, so if we can mow this summer with it, I’ll be super happy.   I also had a call from our neighbor, volunteering himself to fix my tiller.  We hauled it right up there.  I hope he can figure it out!  

The girls and I were also successful in finding 4 project goats.  They are staying with their mommas for a couple more weeks, but they are so stinking cute!   We will have to do a little traveling to get them, but not too far.   The price 

Was too good to worry about the drive.   

I’d still like to buy a “spare” because sometimes stuff happens. I have a lead but will need to see if I can work the details out.  

I wish the weekend wasn’t over.  I was enjoying myself!   We have a lot of appointments and stuff to do this week, but it will definitely be fun too.  

A whole lotta randomness

Miss Evie was a flower girl today.  Let me tell you, she has been all kinds of excited about this.  She told me at least 20 times she got a “nice new dress.”   She looked amazingly beautiful and grown up.   Good job Evie!  We are proud of you!  

Jim had a meeting this morning.  We decided that Harper, Saige and I would run a couple of errands and then meet Jim for lunch.  We ended up going into the Mainstreet Bargain store that My friend April runs (her sons are also friends with Preston).  Now I like this little store, but I rarely make time to go there and I hadn’t ever taken the kids in.   Saige and Harper are now addicted.   It is a pallet store.  They buy pallets of stuff in bulk.  You never know what they will have.  The prices are pretty discounted though. And they sell pies and cheesecakes as well.   Today, we got a new sweater for Carlos, a new blender, (because Quincy blew mine up during the pandemic lockdown), and some junk that nobody needs except Saige!   Oh and some cell phone chargers because ours seem to disappear at an absolutely insane rate  around here. Anyway I’m not sure we will need to go back anytime soon, but if I do, the girls will jump in the car I think!   

This afternoon, Saige played in the snow and was excited because she learned to ride the snow board.   I feel like Jim’s dad was around us this afternoon. That snowboard was something that he gave to the boys a few years ago when we visited him in his pawn shop.   I teased him that he was going to be the one to sit in the ER with them.  

A little while later, Jim stepped out to take care of something and the possum was back, drinking from a puddle on the driveway.  We have seen him around here a lot lately.  He comes up to eat the dog food, and the dogs do absolutely nothing about it!   I know it’s the same possum each time because the end of his tail is missing.  I have just started calling him Renaldo and shrug my shoulders at the weirdness of a ‘pet’ possum.  All of which reminded me of when the kids were small.  We were visiting Jim’s parents at the farm in Horton one Saturday.  Ken wanted us to stay until dark so he could show the kids his “pets.”   Around dusk, he went out and sprinkled a good 10 pounds of dog food on his driveway.  Sure enough, as it got dark, there were about 15 raccoons, a fox and a possum that came to eat.   I laughed when the girls told him that those were most definitely not pets!  Anyhow, in honor of Jim’s dad, we are letting this one eat some dog food.  If he tells all of his friends, we may have words though.  I must be getting old and soft.  There was a day when I would have offed this guy.  Or more accurately, made Jim or Colin off him.  

And from the band travelers, I have this- from Quincy a few photos of some gators she saw on the swamp tour, a photo of a plantation, and a story of impulsively buying 11 breakfast burritos to share with Landrie and having an upset stomach as a result.  

Thankfully, I have a couple of friends on this trip as sponsors, so I snagged a photo of their actual faces (Quincy’s at least).  

And from Preston- a picture of himself before they arrived looking like he did not sleep on the bus as the director planned for them to.  A photo of a muffler shop, and a crazy story about buying beads from a guy in the French Quarter and then being told by some locals that because he let the guy put the beads on him he was now under a voodoo curse.  (Well that’s just great kid -  I know nothing about how to lift voodoo curses).  

How’s that for an all over the place blog post?  

Coming and going to LA

Cameron has spent the last couple of days in Baton Rouge interviewing for a job and checking out Louisiana state.   I’m not sure what he will choose, or where he will end up, but the photos of green grass and flowers did not help my spring fever at all.  He also sent me photos of the campus tiger, Mike.   Seems like an odd thing for a university to own, but what do I know about it?  He is currently flying home from there. Leaving just before Preston and Quincy take the state by storm on their spring break band trip.  

I spent my afternoon helping the band director get ready for the trip.  My job?  Help a handful of band boosters go through all the kids suitcases. Our mission?  Look for drugs, alcohol, vapes or other contraband items.  What did I find?  A weird Halloween mask, and a piercing gun with enough piercing studs to pierce the entire band. I was told neither of those items were prohibited, so I just repacked it and quietly went to the next bag.  After we get done, they bring in the drug dog.   He smells around and then the gym is locked.  Then we bring the kids in and the dog searches their carry on overnight bags, and their instrument cases.   It is an organized chaos that seems like it will never end.  We did get everything packed up under the buses and they left only 40 minutes later than what was on their trip itinerary.  Not too bad considering the band  director is not real good with time management. He knows this too….he tells us constantly that is why he has a band booster board - to keep him on task.  

I told the kids I wanted pictures.  Preston told me I had to hurry up.   Quincy and Landrie gave me a couple more seconds.   

I hope they have a great time.  There is a whole lot of my life wrapped up in these buses.  Not just my kids, but Time, energy, fundraising woes, meetings, possibly even some sweat and tears.   My prayer is that they are all safe, and have a trip that forms memories that last a lifetime.  

Wth

Yesterday at my office, Evie asked me multiple times if she could have some more of my broccoli.  I told her multiple times if I had broccoli I would share, but I do not have any.  When we came home for lunch, she ripped my refrigerator open, grabbed a Brussels sprout, took a giant bite and said “yea you do have some broccoli!”  Well alrighty then.  I usually cook the Brussels sprouts, but you do you kid.    

This one works hard.  Tonight I got a text from a friend saying she was server of the month.  I’m sure that isn’t a thing, but I am proud of her.   She has learned a lot working in there, including picking up quite a bit of Spanish.  

She and Preston leave Friday with the band.  They are going to New Orleans.  I am actually quite jealous, as NOLA is on a list of places I want to visit, but Jim isn’t necessarily excited about.  Sometime, I will go with a friend.  I want to do the voodoo tours, the cemetery tours, the ghost tours.  Jim hates that sort of thing.   The trip sounds amazing.  And although I am happy they are getting to go, I can’t help but flash back to the last band trip.  You know, spring break 2020 where I loaded my son on a bus to Florida.  By the time the week was over, Covid was a thing, the world was shutting down, I was in a panic because Florida was a hot spot, and I couldn’t get Preston home soon enough.  Luckily, it worked out ok.  The last 2 years have been a mess though.  At this time, our part of the country has largely written off all Covid protocol.   Tonight, our school district lifted the last of the mandates, which was masking on school buses.  I am not an anti-mask person, but because the kids haven’t had to wear masks at school, forcing them to wear them on the bus has been a living nightmare.   I am happy to have one less thing to nag on them about.   I was also thinking, in the last 2 years, I have gotten 9 new students on my bus route.  I have never really seen their faces.  An odd thing to think about since I see them every single day.   

Also on my list of things to worry about, Cameron is supposed  to go to Baton Rouge this weekend for yet another interview.  He called me to see what he should do since his flight out is tomorrow morning and we are in a winter storm warning.   I told him to either go to the airport tonight and get one of those close hotel rooms, or to take out and drive but go south and out of the path of the storm tonight.   He hasn’t let me know what he is doing.  I was thinking I had taken care of everything so nobody would have to go out tomorrow.  Wrong again.  I just pray he has a safe trip.  (edited to add Cameron made it to the airport safely).  

Spring break starts Friday.  We were already given a snow day for tomorrow.  The kids were super exited about an extra day on their break.  I always hate when the weather warms up and then backslides back to winter.  I’ve lived here my entire life. One would think I would expect this in March!   Oh well, we will have a fun day, and since we are home, the band kids have an extra day to pack!  Bonus!  

Goodbye weekend you’ll be missed

We were supposed to have a crazy Sunday.  I was planning to attend an auction with a friend - looking for project goats.  She had to cancel.  I was going to go anyway. Except I waited up for Quincy really late last night, and it was cold. And a million other excuses I told myself until I talked myself into staying home.  

The girls did attend their goat/sheep project meeting.  They had a clinic on vaccination and castrations.  The girls loved seeing all the lambs.    This evening, Preston and Quincy were supposed  to have a meeting for their CWF group to finish planning their trip.  The weather really went down the toilet in a hurry, with ice, thunder snow and sleet. I had decided it wasn’t worth the risk, right as they changed it to a zoom meeting.  I feel a little bit bad for this group.  First, they have a couple kids (including Preston) who raised funds to go in 2020.  That trip had been planned and paid for when it was cancelled due to Covid.  They let those kids roll into the next trip.  This group - to travel in 2022 is not being threatened by Covid shutdowns, however the price of everything is a lot more expensive than 2 years ago.  Other groups have spent 2 extra days and traveled to NY.  This group cannot because in New York, they require vaccines to get into places and half these kids are not vaccinated.  This was a very sore spot with Preston, however I cannot force people to vaccinate their children.   They opted instead to stay for their extra 2 days in DC and try to find some fun stuff to do.  Kayaking on the Potomac was mentioned.  To me, not as cool as touring NY, but still something that I’d say not many people from here have done.  I’m sure they will end up having a fantastic time.  Fingers crossed anyway.  

Drop it quick

This was the first Saturday in I don’t even know how long where we had nothing going on.  Colin was home.  It was great to have some time to spend with him. He helped Jim with a couple of projects.  We all spent some time outside since it was in the 70’s and absolutely beautiful out.  We had the house opened up, and did a little cooking and cleaning. It was delightful.  Since we have several things going tomorrow, and Colin was here, we had Saturday dinner rather than Sunday.   Jim, Colin and Andrew were working on a mower that we got last fall.  They had it running and were tweaking some stuff.  We all went inside to eat dinner.  At some point while we were eating it went from 70 to 40.   Gotta love Kansas.   

Colin had to go back to Wichita.   Quincy went to work, Preston went to watch the high school girls in their sub state championship game.  The girls went home.  I am left here contemplating how on earth we got so lucky in life. Truly blessed to have such an amazing family.  

Wednesday ashes

Ash Wednesday.  A certain high school daughter showed up to mass in a dress.  She cleans up good, but her desire to let me take photos of this event hasn’t changed at all.  I love these girls, even when their photo posing skills need improvement.   

The beginning of lent.  We talked about how it is meant to be a season to make changes in your life.  Some people give up things, particularly if they have a bad habit.  Some people resolve to do good works.  The kids all had their own ideas and goals. This year, I am working on thankfulness.  Our lives are very blessed, and I sometimes forget to be grateful for it.  Today, I thank Jim for working with me to make dreams come true.  We have been together now for 30 years.  In that time we have set goals, had visions of what we wanted, and worked together  to make it happen.  I would not be able to do it without his love and support.   I am thankful for the life we have built.  It isn’t about never failing, or having every single thing go right, just about never giving up and continuing to dream and work together.  

Evie loves the pony and baby goat!   She wasn’t feeling real good today, but still wanted to see her friends!   

Cameron is in DC for a couple days of student government conferences.  He sent me some amazing pictures including the Washington monument coming out of his head, and him squashing it.   He also texted to tell me that he paid $7 for a bagel and was not happy about blowing his food budget.  I’m hoping he is having fun.  

Colin is in Topeka this week for apprentice school.  He stopped by this evening to go fishing with Preston and had dinner with us.   It was nice to see him for a little while.