it’s a list.

of the things that i can and will say, when the list of things that i cannot and will not say is so much longer and filling my every thought and prayer.

* today i did 3 classes at 2 gyms, took the boys swimming, and hosted a play date in which 5 boys defied all odds and got along perfectly and 2 moms could talk, undisturbed. also? no one was injured today. totally successful in several ways, this day.

* although one of my  children did spit into the water cup of another one of my children, just to be obnoxious. but not on my watch.

* the child whose cup had been spat in waited awhile and then calmly said, “could you please wash out my cup, since you spit in it?” (I admire such restraint and show of manners in a wronged 7 yr old. I really do.)

* seth-5yr likes to look despairingly at one of his brothers and say, “don’t be noxious. you do NOT have to be so noxious.”

* no need to sniff-test, he means ‘obnoxious.’

* seth-5yr came in today and proudly told the housekeeper that he and his brothers were all wearing “their buh-kay-nays.”

* they were wearing swim shorts.

* Caden-7yr almost fainted of embarrassment.

* someone should really explain the meaning and the pronunciation of that particular word to Seth-5yr, but it’s just too entertaining not to.

* the other day Ethan-11yr casually and correctly used the words “auspiciously” and “piscivorous” in conversation. well, in two separate conversations.

* so perhaps he should be the one to explain the word ‘bikini’ to his little brother.

* i had a near catastrophe at the gym pool today with one of those that I’d prefer not to explain to anyone.

* stupid clasp at the back sure looked like it was fastened

* i have a date with Mike on Wednesday. It’s probably been a year or more since we had a date that wasn’t also a social/charitable function mandatory sort of thing. i’ll try for pretty and try harder not to freak out every time he cuts someone off on the freeway.  i asked him out, so i suppose now I have to plan what we’ll do and I’m not sure on that one.

* but we won’t ride horses. i like horses, and so we went riding on our first couple of dates. Mike didn’t tell me he was deathly allergic to them. but he is. he just didn’t want to tell me that. (communication was always an issue with us, right from the beginning.)  so, no horses.

* i wish we could take surfing lessons. On Wednesday night. but that’s not terribly realistic for West Texas.

* tomorrow it will be much cooler than the 105+ days we’ve been having. have you noticed I haven’t complained about that? it’s because I don’t mind AT ALL. I’ve watched baseball games and football games and countless practices in 105-109 degree weather, and it’s just not that bad. The hot Texas wind swirls around you and bakes you to a deeper shade of brown, as if you’re a delicious sugar cookie baking in a convection oven.

* so tomorrow, when it’s cooler, i’ll mow my mom’s grass. an activity that is consistently entertaining and humbling. The last time I mowed her grass, I inadvertently left half of one of her side yards uncut. I noticed it a few days later and asked her about it. She shrugged and said she didn’t want to mention it since I’m free – and besides, she never really uses that yard. (I fixed it.) You’d think that after all this time, i’d be better at it. But no.  Good thing I’m free and she’s impossible to displease in this regard.

* there are birds that live just outside our bedroom window. these birds talk to one another about WHO KNOWS WHAT all night long. these birds have enviable communication skills. they keep me up. a LOT, they keep me awake.

* my mother suggested I move their nest. I gasped. could NOT believe she’d even suggest that, of COURSE i’d never do that. DISTURB? A? BIRD’S? NEST? I mean, that’s unheard of. That’s just not done. She laughed. Then later pointed out that birds do not talk all night, and therefore something is wrong with this scenario. So we discussed what could be done to meet the Bird Needs that might stop their nonstop, friendly conversing. But then I didn’t do any of those things we named, and I went to sleep only to realize at 3 am that I should have tried harder and  Met The Bird Needs.

* what could they POSSIBLY be talking about all night? They are BIRDS. What could they really need to say?

* Anyway. Goodnight. I need to go to sleep before they start talking.

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