The boys have been begging us for a dog.  They have been asking for a very long time and we keep saying things like, "It's not the right time" or "We need to get a fence first."  But last weekend, Bill and I decided that it is as good a time as ever.  I'm against pet store doggies (as sad as it is to see them behind the glass) and I'm against breeders because it's sooo hard to tell who is a decent breeder and who runs a puppy mill.  Lucky for us, there is a really great no-kill animal adoption center about 3 miles from our house.  As soon as we decided, I started checking their webpage and looking at the available doggies.  I saw a couple that looked like they might have potential so we stopped by the center last Wednesday.

The doggie I wanted to see the most was "misadvertised" on their webpage.  When we came in to meet him, our adoption coordinator wouldn't even let us see him because apparently the owner that gave him up said he growled at a child while he was eating.  This is also the owner that kept him on a chain all day - not exactly what I would call a credible source.  So anyway, she wouldn't let us see him.  She brought out this long rat looking dog that was part beagle part corgi.  I have a personal thing against corgi's and I couldn't make myself like her.  Plus, she didn't seem interested in the boys.  So we went back to their doggie area and we picked out two more to visit with.

As soon as he came in, he was happy and excited and he was immediately interested in playing with the boys.  He was a yellow lab mix, he had a lot of energy and since he is only 6 months old, he hadn't really had a chance to pick up bad habits yet and was still able to be trained to be the dog we would need him to be.  (Going into this, I knew I was going to do most of the training and I was fine with that.)  We played with him for 30 minutes and we had so much fun.  We saw the third dog for about 15 minutes - she was a super cute little squatty body brindle Boston Terrier.  She was the cutest thing I've ever seen- full of energy and snorts and joy but she wasn't interested in the boys.  She was more interested in playing with her toys.  So we met with dog #2 again and we all fell in love with him.

The coordinator and I agreed that I would go home, talk it over with Bill, and give her a call in the morning.  I did and Bill was just as excited as the rest of us, and I called her up and said we wanted to move forward.  Before we could finalize, we had to make five visits with him.  She said they were required because Parker is so young and she wanted to make sure it was a good fit.  We went in that day for our second visit and we played with him for another 30 minutes.  Parker required some coaching - be gentle, don't pull his tail, don't grab his feet, etc - and the little doggie got a little bit anxious when parker came around.  I wasn't too shocked by this - they are both young.  Parker has never been around a dog before and the dog was just exhibiting puppy behavior.  I really didn't think it was a big deal and the coordinator didn't express any concern about it either.  Before we left, we agreed to come back the next day for our third visit.  By this time, everyone was super excited.  Stewart kept asking me when we would get to bring him home, Parker started crawling around and acting like a puppy, Bill said he was excited and couldn't wait to meet him (he was going for the weekend visits.)  We priced out an invisible fence, and the boys and I picked up some treats to take on our next visit.  Bill and I both spent some time talking to Parker and getting him to understand how to be gentle with the dog.  

At our third visit, our coordinator wasn't there.  So a different coordinator came in and brought the dog out to us for the visit.  We gave him the treats and played with him.  I thought the visit went very well.  I was very excited and I was disappointed that our coordinator wasn't there to be with us for the visit.  Parker was so good.  He was gentle and he didn't hit or pull or tug.  He gave him very gentle hugs and his face lit up when they played.  We scheduled a time to come in the next day (Saturday) with Bill.  After we left the adoption center, the boys and I went to the petstore and looked at the things that we were going to need to get for him (leash, collar, crate, big pad for the crate, water/food bowls, dog food, etc.)  We picked out some more special treats to bring on our next visit.

"When does he get to come home?  Can you show me on the calendar?  Lets count the days."  It was all Stewart could talk about.  We discussed how we had to have 5 visits and I showed him our visits on the calendar and that I thought he would get to live with us the following weekend.  He just kept saying, "I can't wait for him to come live with us!"

And when my phone rang at 4:30, I thought she was calling to discuss our visit.  And she didn't say anything about it and she didn't really give me a chance to say anything because she started in on her "I don't think you are ready" speech.  She talked a lot about Parker being young and how he did typical little boy things and that he didn't understand how to treat a dog because he is so young.  blah blah blah.  In the end she said she didn't think it was the right time for us to get a dog.  She said she was afraid that Parker would get bit, and from one of the visits, she could tell that Stewart is very protective of his little brother and she was afraid that they would both end up being afraid of dogs.  blah blah blah.  She said I was welcome to bring the boys in from time to time and look at the available dogs but she didn't think we would be ready for a year or two.

She was able to glean all of this about me and my family from 2-30 minute sessions. 

Bullshit.

Being me, I didn't argue or push the issue.  I just respected her opinion and hung up the phone.  And then I immediately started to get mad.  Not only did I think her analysis of me and my kids was total crap, her concerns should have been addressed immediately.  As in, we walk in and inquire about adopting a dog and she should have came right out and discussed dogs and young children.  It shouldn't have waited until AFTER the third visit!  Stewart and Parker fell in love with the dog and they bonded.  It was just so mean of her to let it get that far - and then for her to say we aren't ready.  It would have been different if she said that she didn't think he was the right dog for us.  She said we weren't ready and that we should come back.

I dreaded having to tell Stewart and I was going to make Bill do it because I just couldn't handle breaking his heart - but he walked into the room where I was and I told him.  He started crying which made me cry.  He is so disappointed and broken hearted.  When I told him I was sorry that I had to disappoint him, through his tears and sobs he said, "I'm not disappointed.   It just makes my heart hurt.  I wanted him to be in our family."  I tried to explain it to him in a way that he would understand and not resent his little brother.  I didn't want to see him blaming Parker because it wasn't his fault.  Stewart cried for 20 minutes.  It was hard for both of us.

Bill and I both thought about calling her.  He wanted to try to convince her and I wanted to confront her about why she waited so long to break our hearts.  But in the end, I think we are going to look elsewhere.  A friend from high school breeds (only once a year) her English Bulldog - and we have wanted an English Bulldog for a very long time.  So we may try to get one of hers when she has a little next spring.  (See Vann Bulldogs http://www.wix.com/vannbulldog/puppy)  I'm also checking craigslist and I've looked at a few other local shelters but this really left a bad taste in my mouth.  Last night, I explained to Stewart that we don't want to get a "rebound" doggie.  We still want a dog but we need to wait and find the right one for us.

So here is the little doggie that was almost a Bondurant.  We affectionately named him BOOMER! (All caps, followed by the exclamation point) and we are the best home he never had.  She will not find a better, more loving home for him and that makes me sad for the doggie.

We went to another bookstore today.  I got more books.  No chick lit - but I did buy 2 Jen Lancaster books for Holly.  I'm trying to branch out a little bit - delve into different genres.  We'll see how long that lasts.  The last time I tried to branch out, I got 2 paragraphs into the Hobbit and I archived it on my Nook.  I will never read it.  

"Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet" and "Sarah's Key" were both a little out of my book reading comfort zone - and they both ended up being really great.  "Hotel" is probably one of my favorite books.  Ever.  Now that I think about it, "The Doctor's Wife" was a bit out of my comfort zone too and I loved it as well.  There are so many good books out there!  How am I supposed to find and read them!?

Here I am again.  Up late.  12:30am is a little late for me to sit down and start a new blog.  It always takes me a long time to write it and read it, and edit it, and add to it.  But I always go through the day thinking, "Oh!  I should blog about x!" and then I forget.  But I'm here.  We are having a great summer - I'm trying really hard to find things for us to do, to make sure Stewart reads books and does workbook pages, to try to find a few minutes in each day to spend with each of my little boys, alone.  Even though I know the kids are loving this summer and really enjoying getting to be home with Mommy I still feel unfulfilled.  Like I need more mental stimulation or something.  A challenge?  Something that requires more brain power.  So I'll be glad when the fall semester starts.  I almost feel like I'm not doing anything all day - which sounds totally ridiculous but I guess I'm still trying to adjust to life not working. 

I stay up late and I get up early with the kids.  I wish I could be sleeping right now but this is my time.  This is the only time of the day that I get to myself.  I can sit here and Facebook, play a game, read a book - and I don't feel guilty.  I can sit here and get lost in whatever book I'm reading because it's 12:00am - I don't need to be cooking for the kids, prepping our dinner, doing laundry, change a diaper or guide a little boy to his potty.  I can just sit here.  I could sit here and stare at the wall if I wanted to - there isn't anything else demanding my attention.  I didn't realize how much I missed sitting at a desk doing things on my own schedule - and not spending a day planning everything around the demands of a 2 year old and a 7 year old.  I'm sure I am no different from any other stay at home mom, but I can't even go to the bathroom alone.  One of them is always following me into the bathroom, the shower, upstairs, downstairs, outside, inside.  Every where I go.  Sometimes I just want a minute. 

Sooooo, I've been spending a lot of late nights sitting on the couch reading a book or mindlessly navigating through my favorite websites.  It seems that I have read a lot of books.  16 in 2 months.  This is probably where this post is going to get random and wander so maybe I'll just start bullet points here.  :)

• The Charles Town library is pathetic.  I keep saying that, yet I keep finding older books to check out.  They just don't have a lot of newer books, books on the bestseller lists.  So as much as I love my Nook - I'm trying to buy hard copies of books so I can donate them to the library when I finish reading them.  It seems like a good idea - but only if there are other people in this little country town that enjoy reading the same books I do!
• Reading quite a bit of chick lit (Jennifer Weiner, Emily Giffin, et al), I have picked up on one major theme of relationships in chick lit:  All men cheat.  Good men, bad men, young men, old men, single men, married men, employed men, unemployed men, doctors, lawyers, accountants, men with children - According to modern chick lit - all men cheat.  I think it's kinda sad.  Is this a generalization that these authors write about because it sells books, makes for a good story, because it is relatable, or because they believe it?  Shit.  Who am I to criticize?  Half of the books I've read this summer are chick lit involving these men.
  
• I've said it before, but once I discover an author that I enjoy, I gather up everything that they have published and I binge read it all.  For example, Jen Lancaster.  She is probably the only writer-crush I have ever had and I've read my fair share of books.  She's awesome.  If I wrote books, I would want to write a book like hers.  I think, if we were to meet, we could be friends because we are so much alike.  (If you've read any of her books, you know that she thinks that if celebrities meet her, they will love her.  I think if she meets me, she will love me.  haha)  She has 5 books out and I have read them all, falling completely in love with each one within the first 5 pages.  Her last book, "My Fair Lazy", I actually read with a bright pink highlighter in my hand.  I highlighted things that made me laugh out loud, things she quoted or referenced that I just love - and I even made a few remarks in the margins.  I don't even do that with a textbook.  Anyway, I've been reading a lot of books that I have purposefully ignored like Emily Giffin and Jennifer Weiner and I am enjoying all of them. 
  
• "The Doctor's Wife" by Elizabeth Brundage was a welcome respite from mindless chick lit. Such a great story, I don't even know where to begin.  I can't wait to start her other book, "Somebody Else's Daughter."  I have some books checked out from the library right now and I need to read those first.  I feel really guilty if I ask the library to pull and hold a book for me and then return it without reading it.  So despite all of the great books that I stocked up on last week - I need to read my 2 library books first.  

I'm kindeve a reading dork.  I've always read.  I can't remember learning how to read but some of the first books I remember enjoying are simple ones.  One of the first books I remember LOVING was "Are You My Mother?"  It's about a little chicken that wanders around asking animals, "Are you my mother?"  I also remember really enjoying "Perfect the Pig."  We had a lot of books at home, some of them I have taken and added to the library of my children.  I read a lot and as I got older, I remember loving "Where the Red Fern Grows" (I totally cried my eyes out, every time I read it) and "Anne of Green Gables" (I love that her dad got her a dress with "puffed" sleeves even though Marilla told him not to.)  I read every Baby Sitter's Club book from #1 - 100something.  I had them all nicely lined up on my pretty white bookshelf.  Each one of them was stamped with my personalized stamp.  Later, we sold them in a garage sale to the mother of a would be friend during high school.  The first adult book I read was Jurassic Park, read in the 7th grade.  My dad told me I would like it - and I loved it.  (I also predicted that it would be made into a movie.)  I went through author phases - Dean Koontz, Robin Cook, Michael Crichton, John Irving, and even RL Stine.

So it goes without saying that one of my most favoritest gifts ever is the Nook my parents got me for COLLEGE GRADUATION!  (That's right, I am a graduate.  I have a diploma.  Suck it Mark!  I did graduate, it just took me a long time!) I am constantly singing it's praises.  I love that I can whip it out on the beach (yes, I did that!) and I don't have to worry about the pages flying around in the wind. I can also have my choice of thousands of books with me - and not be weighed down by a heavy backpack trying to hold them all.

Also, I love that you can "accessorize" it!  (Mention that outside of my blog and I will deny saying it.  It makes me seem a bit ridiculous.)  Kate Spade makes cases for it - awesome ones.  AND you can replace the dull gray back with snazzy colors like lime green - which happens to perfectly match my lime green and turquoise Kate Spade case. It says "once upon a time on the front" and "happily ever after" on the back - I love that!  Every girl is a fairytale princess - age doesn't take that away.

Anyway, I love the Nook.  It's fabulous.  It's easy to use.  It has nice lines.  It's light weight, even though it currently holds 25+ books.

The only thing that sucks about the Nook is the Lend Me feature.  Being able to loan books is kindeve a big selling point for Barnes and Noble.  How cool is that!?  Some of the books I buy can be loaned to a friend for 14 days.  Pretty cool.  What sucks is that it doesn't work easily.  Not as easily as they advertise on their webpage.  I have successfully loaned ONE book to Holly.  She tried to loan me a book and it led to one of the most infuriating telephone conversations I've ever had.

First, let me brief you on a few things.

1. I spent something like FOUR years working telephone customer service in one of the shittiest departments for customer service.  Billing.  I said it then, and I still say it now - no one calls the billing department to thank them for the monthly billing.  Every call was someone bitching.  I am still amazed at the idiots that would call in pissed because the $21.95 AOL charge had been showing up on their credit card statement for 2 years and they just noticed it.  Anyway, I'm good with people and I'm nice on the phone (it's easier for me to pass judgement when you can't see my eyes rolling out of my head!)  The time I spent working customer service has given me lifelong respect for anyone in customer service - and that isn't just people on the phone.  It extends to waiters, cashiers, etc.  I am ALWAYS extra nice because I know how awful it is to be on the other side.
2. I am the Queen of Passive-Agressiveness.  Just ask Bill.  :)  I don't fight.  I will avoid confrontation like it's the plague.  And if I do get backed into a corner and a fight ensues, it is guaranteed that I will lock up and not say anything.  It's a defense mechanism - I've always been like that.  I assume that if I don't say anything, you will eventually run out of things to yell about. 

Monday I called Barnes and Noble for Nook support - problems with the Lend me feature.  I only had two problems and they seem pretty simple.  I sent Holly a loan request for a book and she never received it.  I couldn't resend the request because it was showing as "on loan" in my library.  And she sent me a request, I was able to receive it and accept it into my ebook library but I couldn't get it to download to my Nook.  I tried for 30 minutes Sunday night and for a few minutes prior to placing the call.

The Barnes and Noble Tech-Support Asshole (BNTSA) wasted 45 minutes trying to tell me that I wasn't able to download the book to my Nook because my shipping address was wrong, I didn't have valid credit card information saved in my profile, I wasn't getting a wifi connection, I wasn't getting a 3g connection, and finally that my device wasn't registered correctly.  He didn't listen to me when I told him NONE of these things were the problem because I was able to purchase and download a book as recently as last week.  So he suggested unregistering and registering.  This immediately prompted me to ask, "Am I going to lose any of the data on my Nook?"  He said no, everything would still be there.  So I went through more of his procedure to unregister and reregister my Nook.  And guess what! 

It deleted EVERYTHING.

This is when I started to get a little bit irritated.  It was obvious the guy had no idea how to troubleshoot my problem.  He was grasping straws and I told him as much as I expressed my unhappiness about losing all of my books.  When I tried to retrieve my library, I continued to get the same error message that I received when I tried to download the loaned book.  He told me it must be a system error and that I should call back in two hours.  ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?  

I told him that was completely unacceptable.  I spent 45 minutes on the phone with him, he deleted everything, couldn't recover it, and I needed to call back in two hours because his incompetent BNTSA ass couldn't fix my two original problems and now my third (and much more important) problem.  He continued to tell me I needed to call back, I continued to tell him that was unacceptable.  He said that he had gone through all of the procedures that his manager told him to try.  So I asked to speak with this manager.  He said the manager wasn't available.  I said I would gladly wait.  He said I couldn't.  So I asked if there was someone else that I could speak with that could address the problem.  He said no.  This is when he started to tell me that I needed to "calm down" and that he wasn't going to put me on the phone with anyone if I was "irate."

This is where I started to get irate. 

(Reference #1 above.)  I don't get mad with reps.  It's a shitty job and they are just reading scripts and doing what they are told.  I was by no means out of control, raising my voice, or even irate. I'm just not that person that yells.  I most definately don't yell at people over the phone.  I don't say mean things because what's the point?  BNTSA just accused me of being two things that are sooooo not true!!  That infuriated me - so I turned on my extra sweet condescending voice and calmly explained to the BNTSA that it was unacceptable for him to tell me to call back after he deleted everything and was unable to recover.  He replied that I needed to calm down or he was going to flag me in the system as a "customer unwilling to follow procedure."  WTF!  It was his bullshit procedure that led me to the problem.  He wanted me to call back because he was trying to cover up his inability to help me by calling it a "system problem."  Sorry dude, I've been there and played those games with customers.  It's not going to work on me.

I resolved the problem by hanging up on him. 

I realize that was a very immature thing to do but I couldn't keep having that discussion with him.  It's not my fault he was incompetent!  All I wanted was someone that was competent and could fix my problem.  That doesn't seem like too much to ask of a "tech support" department.  I called back and spent 25 minutes on the phone with a nice girl.  We didn't resolve any of my three problems but I had to go.  The kids were getting restless and I couldn't stay on the phone any longer.  She suggested that I bring it into a store for assistance.  I had planned to do it this weekend but miraculously my library showed back up tonight.  I have probably tried 15 times since I ended the second call, and as I was sitting there telling Bill, "I don't even know why I am trying.  I've tried 12 times already and it didn't work."  Viola!  My library is back!  I am so happy!!

I am just sad that the BNTSA left a sour taste in my mouth re: the Nook.  I will still talk it up to friends but I will no longer mention the lend me feature.  That and their customer service is crap.

He is such a smart little boy.  He mimics everything we do.  Especially Stewart.  He loves to shadow Stewart and do everything he does.  This include running around making shooting noises, making dinosaur noises, making train noises, making car noises, playing Nerf, running around the "lap" in our house, looking at books, sitting quietly and watching TV, eating, playing the DS, swimming . . . I could go on forever.

I am sitting here on the bed, I have the laptop out and Parker is sitting next to me with Stewart's DSi.  He likes to sit around with it and sometimes he takes some pictures.  He mostly likes to get out the stylus and move it around - he thinks he is doing stuff.  It's pretty cute.  But I just glanced over at him and he is actually playing one of the New Super Mario Brothers mini games.  It's the one where you roll a snowball down a road, trying to avoid the obstacles.  I glance over at him, and he has the stylus gripped in his sweaty little hand and he is moving the stylus up and down on the screen making the snowball roll.  So as I sit here in amazement, I see that he is navigating the menus.  HE IS TWO YEARS OLD!  When the game is over, he gets it back to the main menu and selects a new game.  I've just watched him start a game, couldn't figure out how to play it, so he pulled up the "continue" or "quit" menu and he selected quit and it went back to the main menu and he chose another game.  I'm not even kidding.  I am totally amazed.  I know he can't read - but he is remembering what happens when he does a certain action.  He's going through and playing the mini games I'm just sitting here shaking my head in amazement. 

We have been spending a lot of time in an inflatable pool that we set up on the deck.  it's a decent sized pool - and it's fun for the three of us to climb in and play around.  Stewart likes to get underwater and "swim a lap."  Yesterday I noticed Parker doing the same thing.  Two years old, never had swimming lessons and he crawls his little body back and forth, HOLDING HIS BREATH, with his head under water.  This he learned from watching Stewart!  I think Stewart likes seeing that Parker copies him - and it helps when I try to stress that Stewart needs to set a good example for his brother.

Parker is this amazing little sponge.  I know I learned about this in class but to me, a theory is just a theory when it's black and white on paper.  But now that I see it - I 100% believe in the social learning theory.  Just look at the amazing things that Parker is doing!

It is a great summer so far!  I am having so much fun spending time with the kids.  We are keeping up with Stewart's studies and reading books on a regular basis.  So even with all the fun, we are still being productive.  :)  It is good to be me!

It is officially the first day of summer.  Even though we are only a mere eight minutes into the shiny happy new season, it is already fully hot.  Last year we prided ourselves on making it to July before we turned on the AC.  Last summer must have been more mild - I caved and cranked it on a few weeks ago.  Bill and I could handle the heat - but I couldn't handle seeing the kids hot and sweaty and miserable.  They didn't complain but they just looked so hot.  Last summer was different, too.  I was working.  So no one was home all day, when it's the most hot.  We would get home around 6, just as it was starting to cool down.  Last year, once I did finally turn on the AC, we kept it at 78.  So far, I'm down to 75 this summer.  And some nights, when I am extra hot and miserable, and my cold shower didn't work its magic, I will turn it down to 72.  I know.  For SHAME!!!  I may be doing a completely different dance when the electric bill comes in this month.  In the mean time, I am basking in my comfortableness!

I just discovered Jen Lancaster's books.  She has published five "memoirs."  Jen Lancaster rocks on so many levels.  I find it completely AMAZING that she is only 40 and has had such a life that she was able to write FIVE (that's 1, 2, 3, 4+1,  FIVE) memoirs.  I can barely find things to blog about, and I gave up long ago on trying to blog about interesting things.  I started with "Bitter is the New Black."  I felt like I could relate to her situation.  She was fired by a woman named Kathleen.  My boss was named Kathleen.  She was told she was a rockstar.  I was told I was a rockstar.  Two days later she was fired.  ME TOO!  Oh, and I forgot to mention the FULL title of her memoir:  "Bitter Is the New Black: Confessions of a Condescending, Egomaniacal, Self-Centered Smart-Ass, or Why You Should Never Carry a Prada Bag to the Unemployment Office."  Could somebody please tell me how you could see a book with this title and NOT read it!?  Anyway, she is a good writer.  It feels very candid.  She just seems so real.  She doesn't step up on her high horse and try to make herself out to be anything she isn't.  I've read a lot of memoirs where it is painfully obvious that the author thinks she is high and mighty and isn't afraid to talk herself up.  Her books are just different.  I don't really know how I know that - but just read her book.  Why would you portray yourself as sooo "condescending, egomaniacal, self-centered" and judgemental, if you aren't actually like that!?

I enjoyed "Bitter is the New Black" so much, I moved on to one of her other memoirs, "Pretty in Plaid: A Life, a Witch, and a Wardrobe, or, The Wonder Years before the Condescending, Egomanical, Self-Centered Smart-Ass Phase"  I think it is considered the prequal to "Bitter" even though it was the fourth one published.  "Pretty in Plaid" was also awesome so I moved on to another one, "Such a Pretty Fat: One Narcissist's Quest to Discover If Her Life Makes Her Ass Look Big, or Why Pie Is Not the Answer".  For some reason, Barnes and Noble doesn't have this available as an ebook.  So I went native, and bought a paperback book.  I am about 2/3 of the way into the book.  It feels so retro to hold a book and have to turn the pages. I will read her other two memoirs because with every page, I find another reason why I think this author is so refreshing.  For example:  in one book ("Such a Pretty Fat") she has referenced (among other things) Cher Horowitz from "Clueless," Sex and the City, and she gave a kickass recipe for mashed potatoes!  Reading her book feels more like a conversation with a friend than reading someone's memoir.  I think this is the first book where I have wanted to read it with a highlighter in hand so I can highlight all of the ridiculously laugh out loud funny things she writes.  I have lost count how many times I have thought to myself, "OMG!  I totally know what she means!" or "OMG, I have totally wanted to say that to someone!"

So you should go now and pick up at least one of her books.  If you have a Nook, I can lend them to you (!) but Holly is first on the list.  :)

Next topic -  why my ass is blogging at 12:30am.  Yeah, I can't seem to go to sleep at a decent hour anymore.  The other day I blamed it on caffeine.  I had half a Dr Pepper at 1:00pm.  When I was still awake at 1:00am, I was cursing the Doctor and wishing I had just had some water.  But then I was up late again the next day - and again today.  What gives?!  I don't want to be up this late.  I would love to be asleep and snoring like Bill, Stewart, and/or Parker.  All are wrapped up and cozy in their beds (blankets are no longer optional because the AC IS ON!!!  YAY!) I should be enjoying the only time that I get to myself - but there is one big fat greasy problem.  Bill is going to wake up at 7:00am, Stewart is usually awake before Bill gets up, and Parker will wake up when he hears daddy going down the stairs.  So here I am, blogging when I know that I will be awake in about 6 hours.  What's worse than just being awake?  I will be parenting!  You know how some medication says "don't operate heavy machinery while taking this medicine"?  I should come with a warning label as well, printed up on a pillow case that is NO LESS than 500 thread count (because really, I go to bed to be comfortable.  Not to be itchy and poked by cheap crunchy low threadcount sheets.)  It should read:  "Do not engage in the act of parenting if she has not had at least eight hours of UNDISTURBED beauty sleep."  UNDISTURBED is the key word.  It may or may not be so relevant anymore.  KNOCK ON WOOD.  Parker has slept through the night the last 3 nights.  He seems to be doing really well at night - and we are finally getting a full night's rest.  Saying it is probably going to be like the time I told Bill, "my family has a history of flat tires."  We were driving from OKC to Columbus, OH.  No less than twenty minutes later, we were pulled over, unpacking the trunk becuase we had a flat tire.  Not even joking.  Needless to say, some things don't get said - they are silently acknowledged.  I should probably go back and delete "Parker has slept through the night the last 3 nights" but he should get credit for being a good sleeper.

I could blog on and on and on - and perhaps I will find the time to come back and visit some topics that I have been mentally blogging.  Let me make up a list so I don't forget (FYI: a list is CLASSIC TRACEY!)

• our trip to Lewes, DE and Cajun Fest at Breaux (to include how I won tickets and finding Bill chatting up a very tall Asian woman at the wine tasting tent. . . )
• My first summer of no work since I was 14. 
  

I should really carry around a little note book and write things down.  I always think of things I want to blog about and then I forget!  My mind is turning into mush!

Good night.  Good Morning.  Please let the kids sleep in until at least 7:30.  It is such a weak and pathetic request.  I remember when I used to sleep in until 11:00 am.  At what age will my kids learn the value of sleeping in!?  I hope it is soon!

"Nighty night Shakespeare."  (One of my favorite Doctor Who lines.  Yes, I am that sci-fi nerd.  But I only like the new Doctor Who - hopefully that makes me a little less of a nerd!)

P.S.  I should have never commented on Parker's awesome sleeping.  As soon as I drifted off to sleep, he woke up fussing.