Rubble

I am here. I am...here....

In previous posts I mentioned a whirlwind of social activities being hosted by us Musing Folks. The birthday parties and wine tastings and pig roasts ( a truly wonderful cochon du lait, for all you Gulf Coasters) were fun and exciting. My favorite time was Baby Girl's Big Pig Roast. I baked her an enormous strawberry shortcake. Well, the cake part, anyway. Yes, of course, I used Bisquick! We had good friends, a bar, a smarmy bartender, the fantastic cochon.

My parents were in town, as well as Husby's mother and 96 year old grandmother. It was a very special weekend.

In the midst of all this social madness, we also have end of year and end of season parties and 'lasts'. Last t-ball game, Spring Sing-Along for preschool boy, Game Day at preschool, May Crowning, Mother's Day, last day of soccer until next Fall, and suddenly another whirlwind of Kindergarten parties, birthday and otherwise. Their 'graduation' is this week. I promise I will likely cry.

And most irksome and troublesome of all was our precious Baby Girl getting a small, weird rash on her back. She has no fever. She does not seem to even notice it. We had the rash cultured for the antibiotic resistant staph, which by the way lives on any surface anywhere, sometimes for months (I can hardly even write that....I literally did not sleep for the three days it took to get back the results). The culture came back negative for any bacteria, including MRSA. And here we are. She'll get a new little spot or two about twice per week. I am at a loss. I would love for a doctor to get to the bottom of its cause. I have been praying for her. I think I am taking her to a pediatric dermatologist next. She has seen her doc and a nurse practitioner. They think it might just go away. And it doesn't appear bacterial. And no one else has anything like it in our house.

This is K-Boy's last week of school...and then summer! I just want to hang out with my children near our house. We'll go to the pool, the library and occasionally the store. That's it. Living in this hot, hot, HOT place, the children and I will escape for almost 6 weeks this year. Of course Husby can't do something like that , but we are very much looking forward to our travels. We'll go to visit family and spending time and visiting fun places throughout the Midwest and South. As a thank-you to my in-laws for letting us live in their cabin in central Wisconsin for a couple weeks, we thought we'd go berry-picking and make them jam for their place. They entertain a lot up there, and they could use it or give it to friends as a memory of the place. I am no Yankee, but I must admit that there is something so perfect about the Midwest in the summer. We go for long walks, tube in the Pine River, read on the porch, grill, sit around the bonfire singing, talking, drinking late, late into the night.

Given my bitterness over the last 'business' trip Husby took, and the fact that another fun customer event is this summer on the beach in Southern Cal, we have decided to suck up the extra hotel room and all join him. I'll be with the kiddies for a good part of it, and I am really looking forward to being on the Pacific. My two boys will love it. I would consider the great and powerful Disneyland with them -- even on my own on a day Husby has meetings with customers -- but the challenge is the 3 year old wants to ride EVERYTHING and the 6 year old is more cautious. Anything can change in a couple months, so we'll play that one by ear as we get closer. As it is, my best friend and her family live in LA so we'll certainly see them, catch up a bit, and hopefully hit their fave Mexican place, Carmen's, for supper one night.

On this Memorial Day, I'll say thank you to both my dad and one of my brothers who served our country faithfully and proudly in the USAF. Thanks, men! We are better because of you.