I should probably find work as a landscaper now

I know it may not look like it, but a lot of hard
work went into that little bit.

For some reason I have decided to build a rock patio.

Maybe it's because my children are a bit older and can spend time outside without me constantly running after them to make sure they don't charge into the busy road in front of our house.  They can occupy themselves without me, though of course that doesn't stop them from asking for multiple cups of juice and milk and water and then the littlest one needs a bathroom break from all the juice and milk and water and the oldest one insists that I push him on the swing and the youngest wants me to hold her while I push the oldest on the swing.

Ahem.

Or maybe it's fact that it's gardening weather - it's finally warm enough to make things like 'walking out the back door' a little easier.  We've been cooped up all winter, which takes its toll on all of us outside people.  I've felt stagnant and unable to do anything to improve the yard while the weather was the way it was. 

Or maybe it's the story I'm writing for the newspaper on hardscapes that got me thinking that this was something to do.

We love child labor in this house.

Whatever the reason, I started work Sunday afternoon.

No plan.  No experience.  I just started digging.

We have an area to the left of our back steps that for as long as we've lived her has been overgrown with random grass-type plants.  There's a really pretty clematis and some columbines there, as well, but they seem to be overshadowed by the mess. 

We'd been talking about putting a rock patio there for awhile now.  And we have all the rocks that we've collected from around our yard and my parents' house.  So I thought: Why not?  Why not now? 

So I got a shovel and a wheelbarrow full of sandstone rocks and started work.  I've been digging down, trying to make it as level as possible, which is a bit difficult with these lumpy, awkward rocks.  It's not going to be a permanent fixture - just something to hold us over until we can afford to do it the right way. 

But it's kind of cool.  It's like a puzzle with really heavy pieces that don't fit together exactly, but are good enough.

Sebastian has been helping me, shoveling dirt and gathering rocks.  And the kid loves puzzles as much as I do so he's really enjoying putting the pieces together.


I'm sore from all the lifting and bending in places that I didn't know could be sore (the top of my butt?  REALLY?).  But it feels good.  I like the work and the accomplishment I can see progressing from just my own two, rough, scraped up hands.

I had plans to work on it again this morning but it rained just enough earlier to make it too muddy to work.

I don't claim that this will be the nicest rock patio anyone has ever seen.

But I can say that I built it.

Although the ability to sleep in would have been nice, too

For Mother's Day my children thoughtfully gave me their stomach virus.

And my husband left for a work trip.

And then there was all the grumpiness and fighting and no-napping.

But I also got this wild, goofy, incredible boy who tells me almost every day that I'm the best mom in the world:

And this one, this rambunctious, silly, sweet girl who wants me to hold her all day and will randomly come up and kiss me and gives the best hugs:

Not a bad trade off.

 

I spent way too much time figuring out how to type an up arrow on the keyboard for authenticity

The other child has been taken over by the stomach virus from one of the really bad circles of hell, but I've never actually read Dante's Inferno so I can't tell you the exact one.  I tried to wikipedia it but it just got me depressed thinking about anger and gluttony and fraud so I decided it wasn't important enough to have an exact circle to describe my son's stomach virus.  Unless it's the gluttony one because he has eaten a whole lot of generic fruit loops lately, which I only realized afterward has some very strong food coloring in it (I know!  Where have I been?) so I ordered a bunch of the hippie, organic fruit loops which he'll probably refuse to eat anyway.

Where was I?

Stomach virus.  So he's home from school today.  And I need a pick-me-up.

I was looking for a picture the other day to illustrate a blog post (this one, actually) and I stumbled across a box of notes my friends had written to me.  Oh yes.

And this was, of course, before the days of texting and email and right in the height of special, origami-type folding that I never quite mastered but that most of my friends were proficient in.

So I'm adding this to the list of Jaime's embarrassing journal entries about boys she loved and also how much she wanted to get her period.  

I think this particular one was written in middle school.  I'm 90 percent sure of who it's from, but sometimes I get confused because I am old and this was 20 years ago (OH MY GAWD).

..................................................................................................................

Jaime,

So wuz ↑? Not much here.  Just thinking of those 2 guys and Ashley.  I still get the jitters when I think of her absence.  It's just so sad.  I hope she doesn't forget about us. (I have absolutely no idea who or what she's talking about here.)

~~~~~~~~♥~~~~~~~~♥~~~~~~~~♥~~~~~~~~♥~~~~~~~~ 

Did you talk to Rosco?  He's so cute!  Especially with his hat on backwards.  You may not think he's cute but I do!  FOR SURE!  Write Back or talk to me at lunch about ROSCO I don't mind if anyone reads this but if they make any remarks about Rosco, just slappem!  See ya at the football game!

A GREAT friend,

Juniper

P.S. You won't have fun at Chasity's cause I won't be there! (Joke)

Circa letter-writing time. Maybe. I
honestly don't know because
I CAN'T REMEMBER.
But my hair looked fabulous.

(Here are the rest of my journal entries if you need a good laugh at my expense.  Go ahead.  I don't mind.)

She's eaten a ton of cheddar cheese this morning so I think that means she's feeling better

I had a weird dream last night.  Apparently Katherine Heigl was a present-day werewolf who fell in love with a werewolf hunter and she turned him into a werewolf but none of his friends knew.  And being a werewolf made him a better werewolf hunter so he could hunt out his new werewolf friends.

And then I dreamed I was driving people to go bowling - like friends and family.


I promise I haven't taken any strange drugs lately, but I have been completely sleep deprived because of a certain small girl with a ferocious stomach bug.

She only barfed once, and of course it was completely down the front of my shirt.  But we have spent the past two and a half days in the bathroom.  It's been ... something.

But the (relatively) nice thing about Adele being sick is that she's a cuddly bug.  So when I haven't been in the bathroom with her I've been holding her.  Or sitting down on the couch with her.  Or letting her lay her head on my shoulder while I rub her back.  That doesn't happen all that often in the GO-GO-GO that is her 2-and-a-half-year-old, ridiculously hyper self.  So we slowed down a little.

Of course this lead to intense jealously from her brother, who lashed out by telling me he wanted me to go to jail and that the next time I came to visit him at his school he would refuse to sit by me.

My angel.

But I've tried to counter it by spending more time with him one-on-one, when Adele is sleeping, and it seems to be working.  His attitude has been better.  Of course, he could have always been mildly sick himself, but who knows.  You can't really tell with him.  And I'm still kicking myself for taking Adele to the doctor for them to tell me to give her rest and fluids when I already knew that she needed rest and fluids because COMMON SENSE.  But I always worry that the kids will have some kind of weird infection that I won't be able to cure without antibiotics, which is ridiculous, I know.

So.  Babash can have rest and fluids if he starts acting really for real sick and not just fake, I-want-attention sick.

But Adele finally seems to be better, and we haven't had to spend extended time in the bathroom once today, which is a huge improvement already.  And she slept all night last night, except for that one time when she lost her paci and screamed and I made Chris go up and take care of it because whenever I try to she won't let go and I have to bring her downstairs to our bed and no one sleeps at all.

(Don't judge the paci use.  I ALREADY FEEL LIKE A FAILURE FOR NOT TAKING IT AWAY ALREADY.)

I was trying to recreate this picture:

Do you think it worked?