Sunday, September 13, 2015

Thankful for Preschool and Diners And Other Stuff But Not Webworms

Nothing like waiting until nearly the Zero Hour to post my Ten Things of Thankful, but I'm having trouble getting them down. I have a cold, a little birthday gift from my daughter, and I feel crappy. Volleyball has not been a good experience, and when my child is hurt, especially by an adult, then it hurts me, too. The weekend has gone by too quickly, and I haven't gotten any good sleep. Whine, whine, whine. Sucking it up now and writing my thankfuls:

1. For a short week, it was reallllly long! It was the first week of preschool, which means two First Days of school, one for my Primary class (three year olds who will turn four over the course of the year) and one for my Pre-K class (fours turning five). The first week is exhausting, but it's so fun to see those excited little faces come to their first day of preschool! And all went well, meaning no one cried and no one wet their pants, so there's a thankful.


MY first day of school pic

2. It rained on Tuesday, the first day for Primary, which is a TRAGEDY, because not only do those kiddos WANT to go out and play on the playground, they NEED to go out. And their TEACHERS need them to go out, too! But you know how it sometimes says "scattered showers" on the weather forecast? I looked out the door of my classroom, where I could see out the glass entryway to the playground side of the building, and rain was falling like crazy. Looked out the windows in my room, which are on the opposite side of the building from the entryway, and not a drop was falling from the sky. That was pretty cool, and my kids thought so as well, when I showed them.

3. In spite of the scattered showers we received, the playground stayed reasonably dry, thanks to the two GINORMOUS sweet gum trees that grow there. The trees sheltered most of the playground from the rainfall, so we were still able to go outside and play. Thank you, sweet gum trees, even though you are currently harboring your share of the web worm infestation that has come to the area and it's really creepy to see those webby nests of what I know are nasty little caterpillars in your branches. (On Friday, at recess, one of those little fuckers fell out of his nest and was crawling on the back of my shirt, which is NOT a thankful, but one of the other teachers saw it and picked it off of me and I never had to deal with it.)


Ewwww - gross!

4. I haven't had a decent raincoat in years, especially for warm weather. I have one with a fuzzy lining that I wear when it's cold (and which is Barney purple and I HATE it - what was I THINKING when I picked that color?!), but I would perish in it when it's 90 degrees and raining, so a few weeks ago, I finally bought a thin one at Eddie Bauer that can be stuffed into its own pocket for travel convenience. Since I had to go to the grocery store after school (right about the time the rain went from "scattered" to "downpour"), I made good use of it, although I will tell you that, even though it is a wonderful convenience for traveling, it is a bad, BAD idea to STORE said raincoat in its own pocket, as it came out looking like a wadded up kleenex, but as long as it did its job (which it did), then I was able to overlook the wrinkles.

5. I had to renew my driver's license, and while there is more to this story that I will tell later, I got it done before the rain wreaked havoc on my hair. 

6. Wednesday was the first day of Pre-K. We had a birthday, and the birthday boy (whom I loved even before this happened) brought doughnuts for his birthday snack. And not just ANY doughnuts, but Dude's Doughnuts, a local delicacy.

7. I painted hands for a craft in my Primary class the first week of school and lived to tell about it.


The first of many painted hands this year.



It's a frog, okay? A FROG.

8. My daughter was officially asked to the homecoming dance this week by the boy she is currently Talking to. (This is the second step in teen relationships, the first one being texting and snap chatting, then Talking, then dating.) 

9. While relatively nothing volleyball related has been good lately, my husband and I did find a fabulous restaurant when we drove to Springfield to watch a volleyball tournament on Saturday. We went there for breakfast, before the tournament started, and if we had had time, we probably would have gone back for lunch and dinner as well. From the outside, it was a place most people would have glanced at and kept on driving, but thanks to the reviews on Trip Advisor, we went there ON PURPOSE, and were we ever glad! It's on a portion of old Route 66 that has not been renovated or made hip and trendy, and has been a diner in one incarnation or another since the 1920s. Come visit me and I'll take you there!


Almond encrusted French toast with raspberry drizzle,
homemade sausage, and biscuits and gravy.
In the background is my husband's omelette
(ick - I hate eggs and upgraded mine to the B&G)
and coffee (double ick)

10. After many hours of searching, we found a homecoming dress. That's a thankful in its own right, but here's the big one: it only cost $24.15. BAM!

It's the start of a new week; hopefully, the thankfuls will be so bountiful that I will have to pick only the highlights of the week!

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16 comments:

  1. A dress for less than $25 is a huge thankful!

    I can honestly say I've never owned a raincoat except through coincidence if one of my coats happens to be waterproof.

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    1. Frist! I never had one until I was a grown up with kids. Then I found it was easier than trying to carry a baby and hold an umbrella.
      A special thank you to the clearance rack at Dillards!

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  2. I am so late this week as well... Hope youre feeling better... I totally guffawed my tea out my nose when I read "One of the little fuckers..." I was screaming about how many catapillars are around lately... its like a plague!

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    1. You were busy having big damn fun with Lizzi and everyone else, so I don't doubt that you're late with a post!
      I hate things that crawl. Except babies.

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  3. Oh, I'm SORRY volleyball has not been good lately and that you've been afflicted with Emma (the cold, not the girl).
    But so many others yays, and the frogs are precious as all your work with your preschoolers is.
    Ugh, sweet gum trees--not the favorite of anyone who goes barefoot.

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    1. Emma the cold has been quite the affliction, although my husband had it, too, and is already over it, which leads me to believe I may also have a little fall allergy thing going on. Sometimes, SOMETIMES, Emma the girl can be an affliction, but not very often :)
      I thought the frogs were pretty cute, but one of my friends couldn't figure out what it was when I showed her a picture.
      I hate sweet gum trees. Those nasty spiky balls! A few years ago, we had a class of very with-it 3 year olds, and we broke the pointy at both ends kind of toothpicks in half and gave each child a spiky ball and a dish of glue and toothpick halves. They dipped the broken end in glue and stuck them in the holes in the spiky ball where all the seeds fall out if you don't shake them well first. After they dried, we spray painted them gold and attached a ribbon and had an AWESOME Christmas ornament!

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  4. I have to renew my driver's license soon, too, but I'm waiting for a while. My silly face has decided to go all teenager on me, and let me just say that Clearasil does NOT work in 4 hours as advertised!

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    1. My picture is frightening. Truly frightening. I LIKED the last one. Think I can do a little cut and paste?
      Want to know what cleared up my face? It sounds crazy, but a friend with beautiful skin recommended it: coconut oil. I keep it in a little jar in my bathroom and put it on every night after I wash my face. You'd think it would MAKE you break out, but it has completely cleared my skin up, plus it makes it feel really good. I even smooth it on my chest and shoulders, where I break out sometimes, and I never do anymore. Try it!

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  5. We didn't have any criers, either. But we did have a little girl have an accident. And by accident, I mean she must not have gone to the bathroom since the night before. I've never SEEN such a puddle! The teacher came to get me (The first week, I'm the all-around help whoever needs help helper) and said, "Do you want to clean her or the floor?" I chose the puddle.
    A frog? Really? ;)
    I love a good dive! My dad, as a policeman, knows all the great dives in our hometown. I know none of them in the Indy area. I miss them.
    I got to see one of those caterpillar things close up for the first time this year. I know you don't like bugs, but if you just watch them, it is fascinating! Mesmerizing, even!

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    1. Get some latex gloves at Harbor Freight for stuff like that. Makes all the difference in the world when you aren't worried about touching bodily waste.
      IT'S A DAMN FROG.
      Tripadvisor. Awesome site. We find all kinds of restaurants and hotels and things to do on there.
      I will pass on watching the web worm, but I do enjoy watching the ones we get in the spring that turn into Painted Lady butterflies.

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  6. Ah, teen romances. Now that brings me back. Finding the right dress and at the right price is definitely something to be thankful for.
    Ooh, love diners. Hope you are feeling better soon.

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  7. That French toast with the raspberry drizzle looks amazing. It's funny how those four day weeks feel like 8 day weeks. I love the frogs. And one of my favorite things is going shopping to buy something for my daughter (It's like playing Barbies, dressing her up).

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  8. …you sure it's not one of fable octo-toads? (or maybe it's arachnaphibian…I think I heard someone say they read something about a mutation resulting in underwater spiders…. actually now that I make that up, I realize that there are underwater spiders, except we call them lobsters… no, serially! the same family or phylum or whatever…8 legs spiders and lobsters (good thing you live in Kansas or Oklahoma or wherever it is … 'middle of the country, USA'
    I best stop typing now… great first day of school photo.

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  9. I'm thankful that such a funny and grateful post also includes the words "one of those little fuckers." Reminds me of the story my parents used to tell of a children's radio broadcaster who endeared himself to them when he inadvertently left the mike on after the show, and over the air came "That ought to hold the little bastards till next time." Also, I'm glad that "webworms" isn't a horrible new kind of computer virus!

    Lorrie at www.shrinkrapped.com [still have no clue how to change my Google name or how to sign up any other way!]

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  10. The comment about the categories of teen dating made me crack up. My husband would torment my daughter constantly about how he and I were talking even though that wasn't the category we were assigned to! Big eye rolls---about 2 years of eye rolls. Oh, teens.

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