Calgon take me away

It was a productive day. The temperature, although quite warm, wasn't unbearable. As a matter of fact, we had a beautiful breeze all day. It was that breeze that made being outside working very tolerable.

I told John that we needed to cut the lawn. Our backyard has a tendency to grow very quickly. I don't know why...maybe it has something to do with the fact that our backyard seems to retain every drop of rain water that hits it and is quite swampy at times. Our front yard on the other had, always seems dry and the grass doesn't grow as quickly. Since it was my idea, and he was going to weed eat everything, I said I'd help and cut the lawn. It was a beautiful day and I thought I could use the stress reliever.

After working in the backyard for several hours, we decided to head out front and see what we could do. I'd been hounding John to cut the bushes out there as they were totally out of control and looked overrun and horrible. So I grabbed the electric clippers and started hacking at the gardenia bush first. That went very well and it looks so much better now that it's back to manageable size.

Then I had at the other bushes. Half way down the front yard, I cut the cord in the electric clippers. Oopps! John came out to see what had happened (as I flipped the circuit breaker) and he pulled out another extension cord for me to use. I continued on my quest and John took care of some of the other bushes and the tree in the front yard. Suffice to say, by the time we cleaned up and put everything away, we had spent the better part of the day working in the yards. But it all looked good!

As you know, I've been having some trouble with my right leg. I was surprised with pushing the lawn mower and all the bending and walking I did today in the yard, that it didn't seem to aggravate my leg at all. Of course, my lower back hurt a bit, but that wasn't anything unusual. Once we had cleaned up, I made dinner and we sat down to relax a bit. That's when it hit. The pain in my back was killing me and my leg was screaming at me for cutting the lawn. All I could think of was Calgon, take me away!

I was telling John about the pain I was having and he went in the bathroom and fired up the whirlpool bathtub for me. We've had that thing for a couple years now, but I've never used it. Until today. I had some smelly bath salts to pour in and climbed in the tub to relax. The jets were pulsing in the perfect position to be pounding away at my hip. The smelly salts were filling up the air and smelled great. I was relaxing and enjoying every moment of whirlpool bath.

I sat in there for a good 20-25 minutes. I probably could have stayed in there a lot longer, but I decided that I should get out before my muscles turned completely to mush! I felt great! The pain in my back was almost gone and my leg, although still sore, felt a little bit better. Heck, I felt better just for being in the tub.

Now that I've tried it, I think that whirlpool tub will be getting a workout a little more often!

Name the baby

Since I have proclaimed myself "Namer of the the new baby", I've been tossing around names that I'd consider acceptable for my new great nephew. Finding just the right name is indeed a difficult task so the other day I decided to recruit some helpers. I asked my class of 5th graders to write down their favorite boy name on an index card. I explained that my niece was having a baby and that it was going to be a boy. I told them that I was trying to help them find the perfect name for the new baby, so tell me what names they liked for boys. Now the girls really got into this activity and wanted to write more than one name as they have 5 or 6 favorites. I relented and allowed them to write as many as they like. The boys, however, mostly only had one name on their cards....their own name. Talk about thinking outside the box.

Anyway, I collected the cards and was reviewing the names they had suggested. Since there is a large population of hispanics in my area, there were a lot of hispanic names that were suggested. And I could immediately tell who each girl liked in the classroom based on the names they wrote on the card. Let me just say that Nick and Joshua are popular boys in my classroom!

While their suggestions were nice, there weren't really any names that popped out at me. Except for one. And believe it or not, it was suggested by a boy. The boy that suggested it is what we call NES...a non english speaker. He does speak and understand some English, but it is very limited. When I asked for a name for the baby, he was very excited about participating and eager to fill out and return his card to me. When I read it, I immediately saw the potential in the name.

What was the name he suggested? It was ROVER! Personally, I like it. There are not a lot of Rovers around...at least not ones that walk on two legs. Rover May. I can see it. I like it! If that ends up being the name chosen, I'm buying that kid a pizza!

Transformation Deactivated

I feel like I've been going through some changes. I guess I'm at that age when things change, whether I like it or not, and I'm not really against all the changes happening. However, there was one transformation that I didn't like and today I did something about it.

About 8 months or so ago, my left front tooth chipped. It wasn't terribly noticable, but I could tell it was there. At first it bothered me, but then I eventually ignored it. Except for the occasional seed that might get stuck, it wasn't anything bothersome. However, that was the beginning of the transformation. I was starting to turn into one of the those people you see on TV that lives in a trailer...the redneck, white trailer trash person. The teeth are the first thing you notice about them and it ain't good.

Well, over the weekend, I found myself playing with the part of the tooth that was still there. Naturally, my tongue pushing at it caused it to loosen and I was able to push it out of place and then flip it back into place. Now you know how it is when you can do something like that and you know you shouldn't because it will cause a bigger problem. I realized that, but I played with it anyway. So, as you can imagine, since I played with it so much, it eventually just fell right out of my head! Stage 2 of the redneck, white trailer trash transformation was complete.

I let it go on Sunday. It felt like a huge gap when I played with the new hole with my tongue, but when I looked in the mirror, it was barely noticable from a frontal view. As a matter of fact, unless you looked at me from the left side of my face, you didn't really even notice the gap. I thought...I can live with this. No worries. Then Monday came and I went to work. You have no idea how difficult it is to teach Phonics (letter sounds for those who don't know) to your class when your teeth are jacked! I was whistling and having difficulty pronouncing sounds and letters with that small piece of my tooth missing. I sounded funny when I talked. I could not go through life like that so Monday afternoon I called the dentist.

Today I went in and the dentist was able to repair the tooth. I told him he had no idea how difficult it was to speak with just that little sliver of tooth missing. After about 45 minutes, my tooth was fixed and I was able to speak again. Yippie! Redneck, white trailer trash transformation is now deactivated!

Of course, yesterday was picture day. I didn't smile.

Here's the latest installment of "From Womb to Crib...The life of Baby May". The latest doctor appointment was the sonogram that allowed my baby niece to find out whether she was going to have a boy or a girl. Everything checked out fine. The baby is healthy and has all necessary parts...including a penis. Yep, that's right. She's having a boy! Although I was secretly hoping for a girl, I am equally thrilled that she's having a boy. Boys mean you can buy all the "cool" toys. Boys mean you end up having a little rough and tumble bundle of joy. Boys means I have to get to work on finding just the perfect name! (Up to now I've been working only on girls names!) I know Sara and Aaron both are depending on me to find that perfect moniker (at least, that's what I keep telling them) so I'm not going to take that responsibility lightly!

Barack Obama May? Hmmmmm...he could be president some day!

Day of Beauty

Friday, I took my dog to the vet for her monthly bath and nail clipping. Yes, I know these are things I could do and save myself some money, but she's a big dog and truly hates getting her nails clipped. It's really worth spending the little extra to have professionals do the job.

Regardless of that fact, I usually explain it to Shae that's she's going to have her "day of beauty". She always smells so wonderful (at least for a few days) and her coat looks so shiny when she's gone to the puppy spa for the day. Plus she comes home with a new hair accessory and what girl doesn't feel better when her hair looks good?!

Anyway, I got to thinking about it. Each month I take her to the puppy spa for this regiment of beautification. She gets attention, pampered, and to stick her head out the window as we ride in the car. But what do I get? Sure, my dog smells better, but I'm the one who gets to drive the car and pay the bill. What about my day of beauty? I want to be pampered. I want someone to brush my hair and do my nails. I want to bathe in a tub with pretty smelling oils. And yes, I even want a new hair accessory! My dog enjoys this luxury every month and I have to cut my own nails.

There is just something wrong with that! I want to be able to stick my head out the window too!