I shall now enter the days' activities for Frank's behalf so he can feel more involved in our day to day. It is completely understandable for the rest of you to want to ignore the rest of this posting as it will most likely be dull and uninteresting unless you were married to me or the father of my children. Read on if you wish. There will be no personal messages, gushy "I - miss - you" type entries and certainly nothing vulgar. At least not yet. Maybe later in these 5 months of separation, but not now.
This morning I woke sandwiched between the kids, Bella's elbow in my face and Colson's feet on my legs. Pure bliss, but tonight I vow to sleep alone. Colson hopped directly into the shower and Bella dressed and joined me downstairs. I opened the doors and was so surprised by the warmth of the morning. It was a little drizzly but there was not a chill in the air.
Matthew came in shortly and went directly to the basement for some Poptropica. Shortly after, as I was getting the lunches in the bags (the lunches I had prepared the night before - what a time saver!) the lights flickered on and off a half dozen times ending with full power outage. Colson exclaimed we had blown the circuit breaker but as all the power in the house was out, I assured him that was not the case. We opened all the shades in the house and the doors in order to let in more light, but as it was overcast, this was barely helpful. So, we dug through the dining room and found two candles and lit them. Matthew lamented the loss of computer when Colson joined us in the kitchen. At least he was able to finish his shower before the lights went out. I prepared breakfast and the children ate by candlelight. I tried to find a working flashlight in the kitchen, but since the kids use them so much to play flashlight tag, neither had any juice left. I put in new batteries, and even replaced a bulb in one but still neither worked. I have to remember to get new flashlights tomorrow.
I went into the dark basement and into the dimly lit garage and sifted through the camping gear until I found the bag o' flashlights. Thankfully, most of them worked and the kids brushed their teeth and played checkers and chess by their light.
Soon we were off to school. We walked even though there was a light misty drizzle (fo' shizzle). We spoke of Halloween and leaves and Bella told me what she liked best about fall and winter. Fall: leaves falling, Halloween candy, trick or treating, Halloween parties. Winter: sledding, hot cocoa, s'mores by the fire, friends coming over for parties after sledding.
I went for a 50 minute run and felt better than I have felt running in a while. I guess I need to go more than once a week. I came home and the power was still out which made me a little nervous about the fridge and freezer contents, but my worry was for naught when the power came back on shortly after. I had some lunch while finishing my library book - quick read, nice story - then I headed to the Dr.'s to pick up more supplements. My spirits were buoyed somewhat after she told me my dietary changes would most likely not be permanent. Here's hoping. I really miss eggs!
I headed down to Arundal Mills Mall to return something to J. Crew and meandered though Bass Pro shops hoping to find some fun thing for the Lodge. I didn't find the perfect thing, but I got some ideas from the fish mounts, bear welcome signs and deer wind chimes. I hunted down some perfect cowboy boots for Bella's costume and got her some new jeans with "Hello Kitty" on the back pocket - she's really into jeans suddenly - we'll see how long that lasts.
I got home with plenty of time to spare before picking up the kids. So I set about looking for the origin of the fruit flies. There are about 100 of them stuck to the fly traps I placed near the vinegar traps. It's disgusting, but I think they work more quickly than the vinegar traps so maybe this will stop them before they can procreate.
I walked up to pick up the kids - the weather now quite beautiful, partly cloudy and warm. The walk home was quite normal, though Bella made plans with Courtney and Caroline for later in the evening. We hurried home to get ready for Colson's hair cut, but first I made a quick stop off at the Collins' house to see Bitty's new gap-tooth smile. She had her two front teeth pulled. She was quite eager to show them to us in her new tooth box. She looks adorable.
We headed to Texture and I asked Marcus to cut is short but stylish. We looked through a book and agreed on a style that was short in the back but still long enough in front not to be above his ears. He looks adorable and young and I can see the toddler he once was if I look hard enough if he's not standing that is.
When we got home, the kids went into the Lodge to do their homework. Colson was on the couch already started when I came out. Bella was pushing a dead squirrel with a stick across the patio. It was a rather small squirrel, probably the one I'd been watching forage for nuts yesterday morning. He had no sign of any trauma: no cuts, not blood, no deformity. It was our second dead squirrel of the day in fact. In front of Dave's house there was a large dead squirrel with a broken rock next to it. Colson, CSI detective that he is, immediately blamed a few of the neighborhood kids for murdering the poor creature. I asked a kid from the Street With No Name about it. Sure, he'd thrown the rock at it, but it was already dead. Colson didn't buy it at first. But then we talked about how hard you'd have to throw a rock to kill a squirrel and how accurate you'd have to be in that throw and we determined that kids just didn't have that skill set and it must have been a car. Why throw a rock at a dead squirrel? Why not?
Back to the baby squirrel in the back yard: Not being a vet and never having before performed a necropsy, I decided it best to just assume the poor young squirrel had eaten something it oughtn't and move on. So I picked it up with some paper by it's tail and threw it into the woods. Bella was a little annoyed when I wouldn't let her do it but she soon got over it and began her math.
With homework completed, the earlier plans for a get together between Bella, Courtney and Caroline came to fruition. They played well together at first, but Courtney soon became somewhat weepy and cried at the drop of a hat. That combined with her runny nose gave me cause to put an end to one half of the play date. She seemed really tired and didn't balk at the suggestion of going home. So, I called Kerry and she soon came and got her.
Caroline and Bella continued to play as I began dinner and Colson finished up his homework.
He wrote a great story for reading homework. I'll have him read it to you tomorrow. He made up some really great characters with unusual names.
We had dinner in the Lodge while I attempted to start a fire with slightly damp wood - the open flew and the rain combined to thwart my scheme. But I prevailed with many a match, a few pieces of cardboard (from the box the bottle opener arrived in!) and lots of the fire starting goo. Cindy came to pick up Caroline soon after dinner and the kids munched on some Thin Mints while building club houses and staircases with the pine scraps. I foraged for a few dry pieces of fire wood to keep the fire going for reading time. The kids got into their PJ's and grabbed blankets and books and we read out on the new couch under the floor lamp borrowed from the den. I put Bella to bed (in her room - here's hoping she stays there) while Colson continued reading. I joined him and did a little fundraiser paperwork but he was growing sleepy so I helped him in with his things at sent him off to bed.
I poured a glass of wine and cozied up to the fire and did a little catalog shopping for a bit. Popped myself some popcorn and watched "Northanger Abbey".
And so that has us caught up on Day 1. Enjoy your evening. We love you and miss you.
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