Band-Aid Moustaches and Balding Brows

What is up with this?!?!

You see that bald patch?

Don't think I'm a bad Mom, but he did this in like two minutes!

I had gotten the toddler out of the tub, chased his naked body around the house (his favorite after bath activity, run naked), and put him into a diaper, at least. Upon returning to the bathroom to check on the kindergartener, who enjoys a a little time with the tub all to himself, I find him attempting to bandage a very bloody lip with very wet hands.

Me: What is going on?!?!
Him: A..a bug bit me..
Me: No! A bug did NOT do that! Let me see..
Him: No!

I grabbed him and that's when I saw the eyebrow.
Me: You shaved it?! Mommy's razor is not a toy! You could have cut your eye! I hurts doesn't it? Well, you shouldn't play with Mommy's things! Was that yours?! No!

I dabbed his bleeding lip with toilet paper until it clotted enough to get him out of the tub. Then after he was dry enough to get a band-aid, I applied it to his upper lip.

He giggled. "Hey I can still breathe! Ha Ha, I have a band-aid moustache!"

Yes, the lesson learned from this was apparently, Band-Aids Are Cool To Wear As Moustaches.

Fall is Coming!

Top Ten reasons why I LOVE fall!

1. The colors! So crisp, and varied! It's absolutely the prettiest season!
2. The cool air! Summer's heat is blown away, and the pesky bugs with it! The pants come out! No more shaving legs more than once a week! The cooler days mean no more air conditioning! Savings on the electric bill!
3. School is in! I love school supplies! I love the sales on school supplies, and that school brings me work and money. I loved school when I had it (I know I'm crazy!) and still want to go back! I can also send the biggest off to school, not paying for his Daycare, and trust that he is learning more right now than I have time to teach him.
4. Fresh apples! There's something about an apple picked from a tree.. it's sweeter, pure, unbruised, and juicy. Mmmm. Thanks to one of my college roommates for bringing fresh apples into our dorm room and teaching me this truth!
5. Harvest! The pesky corn stalks are mowed over so drivers can finally see around corners! And pumpkins! I love carving awesome pictures into them!
6. The holidays are coming! It is cool enough to clean the house, getting out the totes of Halloween decorations, followed by Thanksgiving. And those holidays mean candy!
7. The fall air always makes me feel like shopping. I plan Christmas lists, dust off old cookie recipes, and start looking at magazine ads for inspiration.
8. New TV shows. I don't get to watch them, but when I do, I usually find some I like, or more episodes of a series I'm a huge fan of!
9. Cool evenings, so I can get out my big wooly blanket and snuggle under it. Thanks Grandma for buying the 'polar bear', as I have named it, so I can be comfy at night!
10. Various festivals around. There's something about going to a flea market, looking for bargains, this year's fads, or nothing in particular and wandering about, people watching. Is it really necessary to carry your dog in a baby bjorn strapped to your chest?

Bonus Reason: Bonfires! I love a good campfire! I love to watch the dancing flames. Campfires demand singing! and marshmallows! They go well with hayrides too, but that is something I haven't been fortunate enough to enjoy recently. :P

Why do you like Fall?

The "Eyes" have It!

A Ficlet based on a picture challenge:

Her Eyes Flutter Open (400 Ficlets challenge)

I held her hand. She was sleeping, or so it seemed. She had been sleeping a long time.

I thought about the last day she was awake. It had rained, oddly enough. It was a cold rain, dreary, soaking everything and everyone to the bone. She talked to me on her cell while she was commuting to work. Boring stuff, daily plans; she liked to be organized and sharing those plans aloud made it permanent in her mind.

She never made it to her hair appointment. We were going up to the lake that weekend too, for a mini vacation… I need it more now than before. If she wakes up, I’ll promise her we’ll go!

I will her to wake up. My thumb lightly strokes her soft skin. She enjoyed her manicures with parafin!

I hear a quickened beep on the heart monitor. I look at her. Is she waking? One eye flutters. I hold my breath!

Her eyes open slightly. I catch a glimpse of her turquoise irises.

“Katie?”
She looks at me and her mouth opens. No sound comes out.
“Don’t try to talk, your face was burned, hon; in the explosion.”

Friday Ficlet! Steamy, Sultry, and Getting Rave Reviews!

Stirrings That Pre-Date the Dawn

They’d had a late night. The white gown was still crumpled on the floor. A trail of silks and linens led to a hotel bed in disarray.

It wasn’t even light out. The horizon was barely a lighter shade of midnight blue to the blackness of the dewy landscape.

But they were awakened by stirrings that pre-date the dawn.

A line of golden light beamed on the floor from under a closed door. Tendrils of steam danced out, permeating the light, shining a cool gray and rising quickly into the stillness of the darkened room.

Suddenly the door opens, a fog envelops the form of two humans holding onto one another, completely immersed in each other. The fog quickly dissipates into the dark room and the couple follow it toward the bed.

In the lit bathroom, two water droplets race, zig zagging down the cloudy mirror, pooling together, moving faster, until they reach the filigreed edge.

Two drawn hearts overlap on the mirror. Two real hearts beat against one another in the morning as the sun slowly rises on love.

When They Know, You Know, Ya Know?

Today I took my oldest to Kindergarten! I almost feel old, but not as old as when I'll take my youngest. Look at him, running to get to the door! He actually just wanted to push the wheelchair button, but let's not underestimate his eagerness!

He found his friend inside those doors where we waited, and they compared backpacks and shirts. His friend wasn't excited. He was sort of like, I'm back, so what? They met at this school for preschool. While I had to transfer my oldest to another preschool mid-year, this other little boy had stayed at this building all year. My son was therefore happy to be back, and not at all anxious about staying here. His friend, was a little nervous and quiet. His friend knew he would be in a new room with new people, two things he obviously had time to think about. My son, has no idea what it will be like, but he's had two teachers in the past and he can handle a third! His confidence is stellar, born of ignorance, but stellar!

Many parents walked down to the room with their little tykes. I however, knew better. No tears today. Mommies and Daddies need to separate themselves at the door. I waved good bye to him and said urgently to follow his teacher. That was all he needed. If I would have followed him, he would have time to think about separation anxiety. He would have time to grow alligator tears and hug me fiercely. Not gonna happen. No. I know he's ready, and I know he'll be fine. Because of how he ran into the building!

And me? No tears either. He's ready for this, I'm ready for this. I'm looking forward to the stories when he gets off the bus in a couple of hours!

A Tutorial for Cleaning Your Turtle

Since ALRO asked me "How do you wash a turtle?" I have decided to share my knowledge in a blog post!

First you must remove the turtles from their tank and clean everything in it in bleach water. I scrub the basking rock, run all of the gravel through the water with a collander to keep the gravel in, and let the particles out. Because, let's face it, those particles are poop. Poop and shell flakes. I even scrub the tank with bleach water in the bath tub and rinse it before putting all of the now clean items back inside.

The turtles, meanwhile are placed in a small tub with water and Betadine to kill the germs. They swim around dislodging algae, particles, germs. It is important that they swim so the water mixture can get into the crevices they won't otherwise expose for you.
Here, the Betadine has had time to dissipate into the water. You should put in enough to make the water tea colored. Then let them swim until they've mixed it all up and it dissolves.

You can see the scratches on my turtle's shell from the dog's teeth. She has been shedding the darker colored layer of her shell revealing the lighter underneath.

Once she developed a soft spot and hole in her shell from a fungus, and these Betadine washes became more frequent for two weeks. :)

Next I lift them up and check for new discolored places, algae that hangs on their legs, and take a soft baby toothbrush and gently scrub their shells. Especially inside beside their legs, which they pull in in fright. The baby turtle tries to run, while the big one hisses at me, but they have to be cleaned. Hopefully with more handling, they will become tamer.

The Betadine makes the bristles of the toothbrush yellow, so I rinse it out when finished. It's a good indicator that it's clean. Besides, Betadine is an antisceptic. I just wouldn't brush your teeth with it!

Next you see me dumping five gallons of water back into the tank. We get our water from the dispenser in our local supermarket at the Kiosk. five gallons is heavy! About 40 pounds of dead weight. It's a lot more difficult than lifting my 43 pound son who's skeleton provides a distribution of the weight!


Lastly I put some reptile conditioner in the water to make it a little slimy. I also clean the filter and put a new filter in it.

And now I have happy turtles! They are relieved to be back in their home, clean, and not being touched!

Center-Brained

I once took a series of personality, IQ, and Learning Styles tests for psychology and education classes. I learned that I use both my visual and auditory senses equally to learn, and also that I am neither left, nor right brained. I am, in fact, center-brained. I use both hemispheres equally. What does this mean?

Well, I have come to conclude that it means I am a Jane-of-all-trades. I enjoy many activities equally. I have an even-keel personality, and I am master of nothing. I enjoy arts and crafts as much as I enjoy puzzles. I get creative urges as well as sportsman urges, but I am not proficient at anything. I know a little trivia, but not enough to win a game. I can draw or paint a picture, but not well enough to warrant a space in an art museum. I can ace tests in school, or know how people feel by looking at them, yet I say the wrong things in certain social situations. Despite things coming somewhat naturally, if I don't focus and hone my talents, I'm mediocre at best.

And I get bored doing the same thing for long periods of time. I have ideals, yet no way to make them a reality. I feel lost in myself, looking for guidance, when it comes to making changes. I don't know enough, because I have a vague understanding of almost everything.

I used to feel proud that I was center-brained, unique, able to do a little bit of everything. Until I grew up. Then I found that a little bit wasn't enough.