Free . . . or just Weird?

How free do you feel?

I mean, do you feel free enough to be your authentic self no matter what anyone else thinks?

Seriously. Do you? Sometimes I think I do, but sometimes I'm not so sure.

Here's an example of what I mean. Yesterday Baby Boy felt free enough to go to the public library dressed like a ninja. Not just a regular ninja either, a really ninja-ey ninja, even though everyone else was wearing regular clothes.

Take a look

What you can't really see in this photo is the great big bandage wrapped sword or the knife wounds he drew on his face with one of my eyeliner pencils that really put the cherry on top of this little ensemble. ;-)

When I asked him if anyone else was wearing a costume or if anyone looked at him like he was crazy, his response was "Some old man said I looked cool." He said it with about as much enthusiasm as if he had just told me the sky was blue. In other words, none whatsoever.

He has been enjoying a particular graphic novel series (at least he's reading, right?) this summer and got so enamored with one of the characters, that he actually saved his hard earned money, researched online, and purchased himself a costume to wear just because he wanted to. I mean this child was walking around a conservative (Ha Ha Hee Hee! We got by them!) suburban neighborhood in a full-fledged ninja costume in the middle of the Texas summer heat (it was 102 degrees here yesterday, by the way).

You see, he was wearing the costume for himself, because he liked it and wanted to wear it. He wasn't wearing it to impress anyone else or to see what kind of reaction he would get. It just didn't matter to him.

This is one of the things that really impresses me about my son. When I was his age, I was so busy trying to "fit in" and do just the right things, and wear just the right clothes, and go to just the right places (failing miserably on all accounts, by the way), that I almost lost myself in the mix. I think it's amazing that somehow Mom #2 and I have managed to raise a son who doesn't give a flying fig about what others think of him. I think of it as private liberation, personal freedom.

I mean I am fully aware that sometimes when our homeschool group gets together, we can look like a big old bunch of misfits, and that used to bother me a little bit. I really wanted people to think of us as "normal" people who just happen to homeschool.

Now I know that when I look at that brood of bohemians, that I'm looking at individual pillars of freedom, with Baby Boy (bless his heart) at the head of the pack. Long live the King!


They always make me smile.


So now you all officially have my permission to embrace your inner weirdo today and every day.


Go forth and wreak havoc on all that is plain, usual, and ordinary.



Until next time . . .

Hi, I'm Mom #1. Remember Me?

Thanks so much to everyone who commented and emailed wondering how we are doing.

We're fine.

I'm just having a lazy summertime, I guess. I took a big old break from blogging and blogs in general. I have no sense of balance when it comes to the computer, and blogs specifically. You all are just so darn interesting . . . I'm either reading, commenting and posting all day long or none at all. It's a character flaw, I know, but that's just the truth. ;-)

We've finished up our homeschool studies for a bit and are taking a break, which actually means we're just laying on the floor under the ceiling fan trying not to pass out from heat stroke. It's so hot here! It's been at least 100 degrees for 16 days in a row. We broke the streak yesterday because it was only 99 degrees, but I was still hot. It's back up to 102 degrees today. Last week we had a couple of days when it was 106 degrees! It's too hot to move, yet alone do anything actually constructive, so I've been watching TV. ;-)

I had some more dental work done. If y'all have been reading for any length of time, you know that I have an extremely tumultuous relationship with all dental professionals. They are some of my least favorite people. I was on some really good pain medication for about a week, and that also prevented me from being online, because I was living in a land inhabited only by myself and the Tooth Fairy, I kid you not.

And guess what else, I sewed. Yes, you read that right, I sewed! I haven't sewn anything since I made myself an outfit in home economics in high school. I have a photo around here somewhere of me wearing said outfit, but since I haven't posted in almost a month, I'd better not walk away from the computer now, or this may never actually get finished, LOL. I'll try to find it later, it's hilarious. I actually wore it on my senior trip. You know the trip, we all put all of our hard earned money together and we barely had enough to drive to Six Flags, which is just a few miles down the road, LOL. We were so pathetic, LOL. Anyway, I digress.

Baby Boy was playing not one, but two parts in our local homeschool group's production of Shakespeare's Two Gentlemen of Verona, so I actually had to make him two costumes. They actually came out pretty good. See . . .

This is our super-fantastic cast . . . (I couldn't get that other Mom to move over) . . .

. . . this is costume number one . . .

. . . and this is costume number two.

Not bad, right? So now I've officially earned my Greatest Mom on the Planet badge for this grading period. I'm not sure what my next magic trick will be, but I'll keep you posted.

Baby Boy also recently did one gruesome dissection project. I would tell you about it, but it really deserves a post all to itself. I'll be sure to post a disclaimer for you squeamish types. It certainly isn't for the faint of heart. In fact, I left the house, so all the photos and commentary will be courtesy of Baby Boy and Mom #2. Stay tuned.

So consider yourselves caught up! I'm going to be making my way to all of your blogs over the weekend and next week, so look for me to be back in action.


Until next time . . .

Remember the Time . . .

I was born when my parents were very young. Too young.

They hadn't decided if they were ready to be parents or even what they wanted to do with their lives, so they both decided to go into the military.

That left me living with my grandparents where I spent lots of time being the shamelessly spoiled only grandchild and little sister to my Uncle (my Mom's little brother), who was only 2 years older than me, and was my unparalleled hero.

When my parents came home, much more grown up and ready to be parents, we went to live on our own and began our life traveling all over the planet for Uncle Sam. My Uncle always remained my hero. He was always like the big brother I never had.

Over the years, he and I exchanged long distance phone calls and letters, mostly written in crayon since we were both so young . . . eventually they morphed into exchanging audio cassettes (remember those) of each other's voices when my family moved overseas due to a military PCS. This was before the age of cell phones and it was way too expensive for us to call. We were just so "hip," no one could tell us anything, LOL.

When I was thirteen, my uncle died suddenly and shockingly without warning. My family was living in Germany at the time and we had to fly home quickly and haphazardly in order to make it in time for the funeral. It was just about the saddest day of my life.

At that funeral, we prominently displayed my Uncle's most prized possession: a shiny vinyl of Michael Jackson's album Off the Wall. We even danced a little bit on the church lawn. It was wonderful and terrible all at the same time. Every single day of his life, my Uncle thought he was Michael Jackson. He never walked, he glided every where he went, had a shiny Michael Jackson jacket, and proceeded to dress up as the Scarecrow from The Wiz every. single. Halloween.

I know this is sort of a morbid post, and I really don't mean to bring everyone down, but this is the first thing that came into my mind when I heard that Michael Jackson passed away yesterday. Weird, no?

I certainly hope they are both resting in peace today . . . and perhaps Uncle can show Michael a few dance moves. ;-)


Until next time . . .

Exhausted . . . Oh . . . and Happy Juneteenth!

This week we've had six house guests, including two children (one deliciously behaved with impeccable manners . . . the other . . . firmly planted in his terrible twos), staying . . . living . . . eating . . . showering . . . sleeping . . . with us.

They are members of Mom #2's family and I love them dearly, especially our Uncle Manuel. He is the BEST uncle ever. A mix of surrogate father, big brother, and best friend rolled into one; but I am so tired of being "on" and entertaining such a big rowdy group.

Generally, I'm not good with house guests. I am an anxious neurotic host. I don't do well with noise, either. I like peace, quiet and privacy; however, since my Mom lived here for almost 6 months, I've been trying to stay on my best behavior and not complain about all the comings, goings, and various idiosyncrasies of our house guests. After all, I have no room to complain, right? I actually did pretty good right up until yesterday morning, when I spontaneously burst into tears for no apparent reason. I generally am not a crier, but I think I just needed to get some form of emotion out. It was either that or yell and scream and cause an argument. I think a quick cry is better.

But anyway . . . they just packed up the car . . . buckled themselves in . . . and pulled out of the driveway. Relief.

We just moved into this new house in January, and for the very first time in six months, when Mom #2 gets off work today . . . our immediate family will be the only people in it.

Joy!

OH! And and in case anyone didn't know. Today, June 19th, is Juneteenth. I remember getting several emails last year from people who've never heard of it. It's a very Southern holiday, particularly highly celebrated here in Texas. We usually have parades, ceremonial dances, speeches by the governor and various NAACP spokespeople, and of course everyone barbecues.

Baby Boy wrote a little post about it here on my blog last year. Here's a link to it in case you need a quick American History lesson.

I think this year, we're going to celebrate by staying home and not inviting anyone over, LOL.


Have a great weekend, everyone! Enjoy the holiday, even if you're not sure exactly what you're celebrating. Never turn down an opportunity for a delicious Texas Margarita, well, actually Juneteenth is usually celebrated with Red Kool-Aide, but you can add a dash of tequila if you like, LOL. You have my expressed written permission!

Enjoy!


Until next time . . .

Mom's Moved Out . . . Look Who Moved In!

Remember that little bunny rabbit that kept sneaking into our garden and eating our lettuces?

Well turns out . . . he wasn't just visiting. And also turns out that he . . . is definitely a she. And not just any she . . . a Mommy she.

Baby Boy was puttering around in Mom #2's garden when suddenly he ran into the house all excited and out of breath. He wouldn't tell us what had him all worked up, but said that we just had to stop everything we were doing and come outside and see what he'd found in our garden.

We dropped everything, (I was cooking dinner, so I had no problem letting go of that) and headed outside and guess what we found:

Not one little bunny rabbit, oh no, that would be too easy to shoo away. We found . . . almost tucked out of sight . . . deep in a little hole . . . on the far side of the corn patch . . . a 4 pack of baby bunnies!

They were so cute all cuddled up in their little nest.

As adorable as they were, we knew we had to get them out of the garden or what little produce we had left was going to be gone in a flash. So Mom #2 had the grand honor of serving the eviction notices.

How can you say no to that little face!

Are You my new Mommy?

We were really starting to get concerned that there were four baby bunnies and no Mommy anywhere around, but then one of the bunnies squealed when were putting them outside of the fence. Of course, at that very moment, Big Momma Bunny Rabbit came thumping around the corner. So we set all four bunnies together outside the fence where she could get them and take care of them.

Let me tell you . . . Big Momma Bunny gave us a ferocious evil eye when she saw Mom #2 handling her babies.


I certainly hope they found themselves a nice safe happy home . . . outside of our garden!


Until next time . . .