The Heat of Summer

August 25, 2011

In my subdivision there is some committee run by people who obviously have too much time on their hands. Ooops, did I just say that out loud or rather type that right here on the world wide web for all to read? This group drives around the subdivision and put signs on the lawns of people who are doing a stellar job with their landscaping.

Even under the best of circumstances I would never get one. Of that I am certain.

The thing is that we are in a severe drought. In order to keep your lawn as green and lush as some of these people do you would have to run your sprinklers for several hours every day. Presumably under cover of darkness.

My lawn is completely dead. D-E-A-D. This has less to do with my commitment to the environment and conserving our most precious resource, like I pretend to myself, and more to do with: a) water is expensive, yo! b) I kill everything living, except the small people I gave birth to, c) I am kind of forgetful about turninng on the sprinklers, and d) I like to maintain my rif-raf image.

Needless to say I have never had one of the “Wow, Your Lawn Looks Terrific!” signs in my yard. That is until last week.

Someone took the sign out of my neighbor’s yard and stuck it in mine. Thank God someone around here has a sense of humor. I wonder sometimes.

This is what my backyard currently looks like. I think we are on day 72 of temperatures over 100 degrees. I’m not sure anymore. It has broken all heatwave records. But honestly after a while damn hot seems like a good enough description.

The only green grass in my yard is the area that surrounded the slip n’ slide and some resilient weeds.

And On The Third Day

We have our first broken binder. I did not know this was possible.

This is why we can’t have nice things.

First Day of School

August 24, 2011

Last year my high school aged son told me that at the bus stop all the kids were poking fun at their mothers. What is it with Moms and taking pictures on the first day of school? they wondered.

When he came home and told me this I laughed. Some things are universal.

I find that it is the perfect opportunity to take photos of my older kids. They are at that age where they are uncomfortable having their picture taken unless they are involved in a sporting event and I am using a zoom lens so they don’t even realize I am taking a photo.

This is my 14 year old son going off to his first year of high school.

My 16 year old, who is a junior this year, really wishes he were driving his car to school instead of heading out to the bus stop. Instead it is in the shop being fixed.

My 15 year old who is now a sophmore in high school. He is happy because he has a friend who drives and she picked him up so he didn’t have to take the bus.

My 12 year old son who is in seventh grade and the only one of my children at the middle school this year. He is waving at his friend who lives across the street and this photo just captures his personality.

The youngest ones who are all happy and excited to be going off to school. Who all love their teachers! And love riding the school bus! And wanted me to hurry up take the pictures so they could get to the bus stop early!! It is not possible for me to use enough explanation points to fully convey their excitement!!!

I also like to take photos on the first day of school that are not the typical stand at the front door with your backpack. I want to remember where we were in our lives. The flow of our mornings.

My oldest son drinking his cup of coffee and playing the guitar while the early morning light begins to shine in the front windows. It isn’t this peaceful or joyful every morning. But this is how I hope I remember it.

The new shoes and backpacks ready for their debut.

The nervous anticipation at the bus stop.

The brand new headband picked out especially for the first day of school. It completely clashed with the rest of her outfit, but not to her.

And finally the arrival of the bus, taking them off to the beginning of this year’s adventure.

Not photographed are the high fives all us mothers gave each other for surviving another long, hot summer. Then we all skipped home, ate ice cream all day, watched hours of tv, and danced naked through the house. Or at least that’s what I told my children mothers do all day.

And possibly my favorite back to school photo this year, and possibly of all time. The after-the-first-day-of-school photo.

Oh the humanity! What a cruel and senseless world to make a child pose for a photo when they have obviously had an exhausting day! Can’t you see that he has already taken off his shoe and was all set to relax. Having your photo taken is the opposite of relaxing! It is stupid!

Yes, I do hope they work on antonyms in school this year.

And now, the fun part. A giveaway!

Are you getting ready to snap your back-to-school photos, seriously, who doesn’t take first day of school photos? Cherokee USA and Cozi want to make that first day even better. Enter the Cherokee USA 1st Day of School Photo Contest and you could win $1,000 in Cherokee clothing and a free smartphone from Cozi.

How great is that?!

To enter just share your favorite photo on the Cherokee fan page on Facebook. The contest runs through September 30, for those of you who have to wait even longer to do your naked house dancing, ice cream eating, television watching. Full contest rules can be found here. It couldn’t be any easier.

There is more! I have a $100 gift card to give away for you to purchase Cherokee clothes from Target for your children. The black t-shirt my daughter is wearing is a Cherokee brand shirt that I purchased last year. It has held its shape and color through more washes than I can count. If you would like to win the $100 Target gift card, leave me a comment telling me about your back to school plans. Do you have any fun traditions? Fun photos you take year after year?

And don’t forget to head over to the Cherokee fan Facebook page. I’d love for one of you to be the $1000 winner!

This post was sponsored by Cherokee and Cozi, but all opinions herein are mine.

Comments are now closed! Thank you for participating.

Bat Brigade

August 21, 2011

Driving home from football practice the other night we happened over this bridge right as the bats started flying out. My 12 year old grabbed my phone and took these photos. Luckily, no one else was driving on the bridge so I was able to stop right in the middle of it.

In my entire life, I have never seen so many bats as I have seen since moving to the Austin area. It seems like every bridge has a colony living under it. Yes, I did google to see what a group of bats is called.

We have gone to the Congress Ave bridge to see the bats, but the kids always find it more exciting when we just happen to be driving near a bridge and the bats make their mass exodus.

DIY Therapy

August 17, 2011

When I am stressed or depressed or just feeling like life has yanked the rug out from under me I clean my house. There is something so cathartic about polishing countertops, vacumming lines in the carpet, and having everything sparkling. I know other people eat junk food as a comfort, but I can’t even think about food.

This has the weird disconnect of people saying, “Wow, you look great!” And me saying back, “That’s funny, because I feel like shit!”

This is the part where I am tempted to type, ha ha just kidding. I don’t want anyone to feel sorry for me. But the truth is that I’m not kidding. This has been a really crappy few weeks (months?). It isn’t really one thing in particular, but rather a whole bunch of seemingly small things happening at once. If one more person says that it can’t get any worse I might just hit them. Because I have learned it can always get worse.

So eventually I ran out of things to clean. I decided to paint. Most of the rooms in my house are still the builder’s white flat paint. Flat paint can’t be scrubbed clean. I have several children who think it is their duty to run their hands along the walls while they walk through a room.

You definitely can not appreciate the horror that is the curtains. Sheer hunter green curtains? Why?

I bought a little sample of paint this time. Look at me! Learning my lesson finally. I almost changed my mind in the store when I went pack to purchase the paint. It looked so different under the store light that I began questioning myself.

The point of no return.

Surprisingly I really like the way it turned out. This never happens. Turns out there is a reason people put swatches of paint on their walls before deciding on a color. Who knew!?!

I wish I had better photos, but you know my laptop is dying. And all the other computers in my house are also dead. Just in time for school to start!

Looking around… there are a lot more rooms that could use painting.

Rule of Threes

August 9, 2011

The last time a rash of things broke in my house it was my favorite camera lens, my laptop, and my sprinkler system.

This week:

My microwave broke. Just up and died along with the smell of burning wires or plastic or whatever it is in there that burned itself up and caused the microwave to stop working. Before I moved to this house I never had a microwave. I never knew why I would need one. And while I still could happily live without one, my children are huge microwave fans. From my oldest: do I have to drink cold coffee now? (No, wake up at a decent hour when the coffee pot is still on and drink fresh hot coffee.) To the littles who like to make tortillas with melted cheese for lunch. In the interest of family harmony and my sanity I will need to replace it soon.

The air conditioning in my van stopped working. This is a problem since it is 105 degrees outside most days. The van is on its deathbed and frankly everytime I turn the key and it starts I am more than slightly surprised. I have begun looking at new cars. And laughing hysterically at how much they cost.

Maybe if my sprinkler system wasn’t broken that money tree would have bloomed in my backyard.

I’m not looking forward to the third thing.

The Livin’ is (Mostly) Easy

August 5, 2011

Has it really been two weeks? Wow. I have opened and closed my laptop so many times and written nothing because I really have nothing to write about. Hey we went swimming. Watched yet another riveting episode of iCarly. My lawn is still dried out and dead. And the laundry pile is still three feet high in spite of the fact that I am doing laundry constantly.

We have reached the point in the summer when we are tired of the heat and the sun and we find ourselves just staying indoors. There has been a lot of movie watching, game playing, and getting on each others every last nerve. In this respect, it reminds me of February in CT.

Football has started. It’s been 110 degrees here. It doesn’t seem to bother the kids in the least. On the other hand, I want to die from sitting on the sidelines under my shade umbrella. Somehow I find myself as the Team Mom for my 10 year old son’s team. I am drunk on my power. Or possibly just drunk because I really don’t have any power. And by drunk I mean suffering from heatstroke.

School is going to be starting soon. You know what that means? Spending money I don’t have on things the kids don’t need. I missed the deadline for ordering the back to school supply packs online. So now I am forced to go out and buy the supplies one painful store visit at a time. The glue stick requirements are killing me. I need to buy 16 of large sized ones. Not the normal sized ones that are always on sale dirt cheap. No, the large ones that are over $2 each. Why the large ones? Why? I say this as I shake my fist at the sky and mutter under my breath motherfucking glue sticks. Then I hulk smash all the empty back to school displays.

I have written a bunch over at Alphamom.

Tips for novices to take better photos

What to do if your teenager has friends you don’t like. You know, other than chain your teen up in your basement. I’m pretty sure that is illegal in most states.

What do you think of places banning children from their establishments. As a mother of seven children my point of view might surprise you.

Sometimes, I lie to my kids. It’s for their own good.

Now I need to go grocery shopping. Something which is just as much fun as it sounds. The kids were complaining yesterday that there was “no food in this house to eat” I guess that is different from the food in this house that is unfit to eat. I told them to make a list. On the list: ice cream, milk, orange juice, cereal, soda. When pressed they added hamburgers, queso, chips, and buffalo wings to the list. I live in a frat house.

And if it isn’t obvious, for the first time I am not at BlogHer. I am sad not to see everyone, but at least I can live every single moment vicariously through twitter.

So tell me, what are you up to? No really, tell me. I can already recite this episode of iCarly verbatim.