Lately...

It's been awhile since I last posted. This is not for any particular reason. It's not that nothing has been going on or that so much has been happening I haven't had a chance to sit down and tell about it. It's not that I've been depressed and hiding from my friends. I guess if I must offer an excuse, it would be that I'm spending all my creative energies on my stories and poems for class and that doesn't leave much for the blog. But that's not a very good excuse, so I'm not going to use it unless I have to.

So, what's been going on lately, you ask? Well, let me tell you:

Mom and Don finally left for their trip to Alaska. It took them a long time to get everything up and ready, but I'm glad they did. A six-week trip is not something you pack lightly for and six-weeks on a C-Dory (that's a boat) requires a lot of precautionary preperations. But eventually, they got everything done and managed to leave town. When I last talked to mom, they were still in Canada (the weather is keeping them from moving very quickly) but having a great time. Mom has been blogging about the trip and you are more than welcome to follow their adventures through the dangerous Alaskan waters: http://knottycadventures.blogspot.com/

While they are gone, I'm staying at their house with the dogs. It's like a mini-vacation for me, even though I still have to get up in the mornings and head off to my job. Belle and Lucy are very easy to care for. Troy was the troublemaker when it came to me opening the gate (I used to have to tie him up or he would try to make a run for it, and as big as he was, it wasn't easy for me to stop him); the girls just hang out by the gate and wait for my car to enter or exit like little doggie-faced angels. And they hang out with me at the house, occasionally asking me to throw a ball or play a quick game of tug-of-war, but for the most part just staying out of trouble. Neither of them feel the need to chase Esther (who I brought over with me since I'd be gone for so long) which Esther appreciates, and they both play with Jade on the weekends when I bring her over for my custody days (Derrick and I had to work out a way to share the pup since neither of us wanted to be without her for six whole weeks).

There's only one problem that I have with staying with Lucy and Belle. They like to lick. It's their way of showing affection to their people. Mom and Don don't mind it at all and allow them to lick their faces and feet whenever they want. But I don't particularly enjoy getting a spit bath. I feel bad when I tell them to leave me alone because I know that they are just telling me they love me, but.....yuck!

I did a little babysitting the other day. That was a lot of fun. Kristina called and told me that she was having trouble getting caught up on her homework and would I mind taking J'sai for a few hours so she could get some work done. Of course I didn't mind! We decided I could take him on a Sunday, so after church, I ran over and picked up my new friend for the day. I took him with me to brunch (he was such a sweet little guy) and then we spent the afternoon at mom's house in the comfortable A/C (the weather here has been crazy hot lately. This week we've been reaching triple digits!) J'sai is at that stage in his development where he's trying to push himself up, managing to get his head off the floor and look around the room for a couple of minutes. He can also roll himself from his back to his stomach and back again. I laid out a blanket for him to play on and he was pretty content to entertain himself checking out the unfamiliar environment. Eventually, he'd just wear himself out and lay his head down and take a short nap. Then he'd wake up, I'd feed and change him, and we'd start over.

The dogs were intriged by this tiny person. Lucy (the maternal one of the three) really took to the baby. She'd occasionally go over to him and check to make sure he was content and safe, giving him a little lick on the head like he was a little pup and she his mother.

Jade, on the other hand, pouted about no longer being the center of my attention and the baby of the group.

Other than that, it's mostly work, class, way too much mindless computer, a little scrapbooking, and trying to keep myself from melting into a Deema-puddle on the sidewalk outside. Do you know how hard it is to appear refreshingly cool and effortlessly together when your hair hangs limply, your clothes cling stickily and your make-up melts down your face in the 100 degree weather? There's a reason that I haven't joined DJ in Death Valley!

One of my friends mentioned to me that he heard on the radio that they were talking about how to bake cookies from inside your car in this kind of weather. Maybe I should give it a try.... At least then it would be worth it to get into my stifling hot car at the end of the day.... Mmmm, cookies!