school

October 5, 2012 Image

Home for the night.
Wearin’ fuzzy slippers.
Cookin’ frozen pizza for two middle school boys.
(My oldest son and his friend from next door.)
They are playin’ video games in the basement.
My youngest son is right there with them.
Always.
Home.

October 5, 2012
NOTE: This is my 600th Tumblr post. Something had to be. Figured it might as well be about family, food and home. Those three things are all tangled up together – at least for me.

September 28, 2012

I love my friends

I love my friends
Kim who makes me laugh until I snort without even trying, and no such thing as TMI between us
and Susan who pulls alongside the school curb, where I’m walking with my head down, after delivering two dozen brownies inside for a fundraising function we’re not attending tomorrow
she gets my attention with, “Hey, Sexy Mama”
my head comes up fast to see her smiling face and twinkling eyes from the driver’s seat of her familiar car
we talked in the shorthand of good friends as she rounded the sidewalk curve
for she has one more school drop off to do and then bags to pack
she’s flyin’ to South Carolina tomorrow
I’m seeing Angel and LizBeth later lunch-ish for some art business, but mostly friend business
for hugs and “to touch noses”
For face time, the live and in person kind
I’m seein’ more L’s tonight
chit chat with both Lynnette and Liann
with their families and mine
roastin’ hot dogs and marshmallows over a bonfire at my in law’s farm
e-communication has its place
but how I love talking, laughing and hugging in person so much more than simply typing, “LOL”, “hugs” and signing off emails with “Love”
for I truly do
Love my friends
~ Janean

September 28, 2012

August 30, 2012

cat + dog = lavender

That cat is at it again
I swear she is the one that’s going to push me right over the edge
You know
The edge between sorta sane and completely off your rocker
I’ve been balance beaming along it for months now
She’s still mad about the dog
That sweet pup we brought home eight months ago
My goodness can she hold a grudge
She’s tried everything she can think of to express her displeasure
She’s growled, hissed, and scratched his cold, black, puppy nose with her menacing front claws
She tried a starvation diet too
I thwarted that one by opening a can of soft food that was too tantalizing for her to resist
She’s “gone” on the dirty laundry
…and more recently the bedroom floor
I don’t have time to deal with her antics and clean up her messes
But clean I do
Washing machine set on “sanitize” to neutralize that awful smell
Today I tried a new one
‘Cause I’m barely holding on
I mixed a potion of pleasing scent to spray upon the clean again bedroom carpet
The side of the box said 4 oz. water and 18 drops of lavender oil
I think I counted 21
Hope it deters her
Hope it gets her back in her box for “business”
After the potion mixing was done
I squeezed one more drop onto my index finger
And dabbed a drop of lavender oil behind my ears
It was chemo unhook day
That one’s tougher than tough
When the completed infusion hits hardest
I hugged my husband goodbye
Before carline at school
He said, “Mmmmmm, you smell nice.”
I smiled and replied, “It’s lavender.”
Drat that cat
Do I have to give her the credit?!
~ Janean

August 30, 2012

August 23, 2012

the lunch menu

While looking at the school lunch menu, held by a magnet on the fridge, I asked my oldest son, “So, do you want pickled pigs feet and pepperoni popsicles for lunch today?”
He replied with a succinct, 12 year old boy, “Nuh, uh.”
I repeated my question, and was rewarded with a more complete response, “Mom, that’s NOT what it says.”
Oh, all right, “Do you want a cheeseburger meal then?”
Like I didn’t already know the answer’d be, “YES!!!!”
Easy for me.
Yummy for him.
Win-win.
~ Janean

August 23, 2012 a.k.a. the fourth day of the new school year.

March 29, 2012

dog tired

Is it a bad sign when it’s not yet 9:00a.m., there is still coffee in the pot, and more than anything you just want to go back to bed? I figure it is too early in the day to call it a nap. Puppy was up at 2:30a.m., sometime between 4 and 5, and again at 6:30a.m. That’s when I got up, planning to stay up for the whole entire day. The previous times I took him out, then back in, took him out and fed him and back in… In between I kept rekenneling him and going back to bed. I must have slept. Each time I was there long enough to have crazy dreams before being awoken sooner than I wanted to be from the dog sounds coming through the puppy monitor. For the record, there was a thirty minute walk in there too. Alas, no back to bedding, no napping. Not for me anyway. That dog?! He’s sawing logs, happily curled up in the family room, where the TV is blaring a dog themed show, and the rest of the family is done with breakfast. It’s Spring Break here. Day 4 of No School. Woof.

February 2, 2012

Blah

Blah
Up too early
No napping
Showered
No time for make up
No time for drying hair
Laughed taking my boys to school
Together laughs
Taking turns being funny laughs
The drive was too short this morning
I wanted to keep ‘em with me
Laughing
A bit longer
Now the car is silent
Missing them
And feeling blah
Blah
Blah
Blah
Will try to snap out of it
Soon
Until then
One more
Blah

January 26, 2012

Thursday afternoon

I have a big sweet puppy dog as a foot warmer.
We just came in from a thirty minute walk on a gray, rain spittin’ day.
There is another hour before it’s time to pick up the children from school.
I may rest my eyes for just a bit…
Or write, while the puppy is still, and my house is too…
Quiet, except for the ticking if the clock and tapping of the keys.
I am thankful for warm toes and this great big baby canine, napping at my feet.

December 13, 2011

December 13, 2011: Love is…

Love is saying this morning, “I’ll take the boys to school and then go to Meijer,” because you know I’m trying to finish some artwork for a one day show tomorrow that I’m simultaneously excited, nervous and freaked out about, even though you re-start chemo today and have your own set of nerves about that.